Just Business
by Lorca the Great
Summary: All Axel wanted was a job until someone else's dreams became his own. Then that blond kid had to come in. But those eyes… he could have sworn he had seen them before. AkuRoku Afterlife fic.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **Well, it's about time that I posted this thing. The idea has been haunting me for freaking WEEKS. I don't even want to _know_ how many random scenes and ideas I have written down on my little blue post-it notes from this thing. Anyhow. Oh, and writing in Axel's POV is a bit different than Roxas' I found. I'll have to get used to it a bit.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Kingdom Hearts and I never shall. And I'm just going to put this here, because I don't want to have to think of a witty disclaimer for EVERY SINGLE chapter.

**Warning: **Boy on boy love. Hot stuffs a bit later on. And more hot stuff. It IS set to mature, just so you know.

**Summary: **All Axel wanted was a job until someone else's dreams became his own. Then that blond kid had to come in. But those eyes… he could have sworn he had seen those before.

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Just Business

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Chapter 1

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"_We were mistakes. We were never meant to live."_

_Two sets of black boots trudged meaninglessly down the sterile and barren hallway, too many shadows haunting the corridors of the castle that should never have been. But it was, as the nobodies were. The empty noises spoke of more destitution; and of the void, which the pair could discern within their still chests._

"_That's not true." The silky voice responded to the dull statement, emerald eyes not looking to the wild blond spikes he knew were not but a few short feet from where he walked._

_But he couldn't turn away from the lifeless azure that split his soul when the nobody turned to him. If he had a soul, that is. "Then what is the truth?"_

_A sigh. Long fingers scraped through crimson spikes. Again with the questions. Why did he always ask the questions? "You know I can't answer that."_

_The blond stilled his steps, the other drawing himself up beside him. "We are nobodies." Eyes were concealed behind a curtain of bangs. He repeated, "We were mistakes." He was simply restating the truths he knew._

"_That doesn't mean that we have to stop living." A hand fell to the petit shoulder; the redhead felt it tense beneath his glove before relaxing once more, "We are still alive, Roxas."_

_A mirthless chuckle bubbled up from the blond, "Who is to say that we are even that?" His hand came to press on his own chest, "We aren't supposed to feel anything." Empty blue rose to meet deceiving green, "_I_ can't feel anything." Green turned savage._

_The gloved hand not clasping Roxas' shoulder took a fist-full of blond locks and whipped the young nobody around none too gently, while grasping his wrist in a vice-like grip, wrenching the frail-looking arm behind and up the blond's back._

_Roxas cried out in surprise and pain._

"_Do you feel this?" Dark words whispered behind a delicate ear._

_The blond's throat worked around the gasps of pain before he managed to speak, "Axel, what the hell! You're hurting me!" But the redhead simply responded by wrenching the captive arm further up, receiving a second cry of agony. Axel could feel the muscles strain and stretch – could almost feel the bones longing to bend and break. The blond tried to struggle, but his efforts were in vain._

_Axel released Roxas in his own time, each wither of agony from the blond before the release costing the redhead much more than the other could have imagined. Roxas' knees gave way as the grip was removed, firm arms wrapping about him before he fell to the cold tile. His back was pressed up flush to a chilled and empty chest, constricted in arms that were now only meant to comfort._

_The redhead's voice was low and softly incredulous, "How can you not feel anything?"_

_Roxas twisted in his grasp and shoved at the chest he was against, successfully dislodging himself from the contact that was all too frail to begin with; empty and furious eyes locking on dull emerald. He screeched out four simple words that would have hurt someone who had a heart to break, "Get away from me!" Realization dawned on the blond a moment too late, and the words had already been spoken. It was no matter that they could not tear at a heartless being, but neither could deny that there was something between them, no matter how impossible it was made to seem, "Axel, I didn't-"_

"_We _can_ feel, you just don't allow yourself to." Darkness formed at the redhead's boots, a gloved hand covering Roxas' hollow chest. It was strangely warm, the un-beating and barren cage, "_I_ can feel." The portal opened and took him away, the warmth from the sweet breast still present as the darkness consumed him._

000

Axel woke, as he always did from these dreams, with a chill deeply embedded beneath his lungs. He pressed a hand to the cold and felt a lingering warmth in his hand. His heart thundered in his ears and felt uncomfortable in its pounding against his ribcage. Tears stung his eyes, but not enough to flow.

"Shit," was hissed in the near-dark room, adorned with draping black and red cloth against the otherwise barren walls, his voice constricted from the tears caught in his emerald eyes from an impossible life that he lived within his dream. He scrubbed at his eyes in vain; the sense of never-shed tears still lingering. He was dully glad of the tattoos that stained his cheeks, as compensation for the salt that would never reach them. At least he could _feel_, unlike his self in his dreams. He was always himself, or rather, another version of him. Colder and desperate for something, but the goal was never singular.

But then there was another. Who was that blond in his dream? Why could he never remember that face when he woke? But those eyes… colder than ice. He didn't even remember the name that was buzzing though his mind for the entirety of the dream. He felt as if he were boiling and freezing at once.

That was when Axel's alarm decided to blare off into his ear – some rock station that he had never bothered to change that seemed to be perpetually stuck on about five songs. Not that his swirling mind caught the music in the morning. Especially after one of those dreams.

Axel looked at the time. 6:00 AM. What ungodly creature invented that ungodly hour? Wait, six in the morning? That could only mean-

The redhead groaned and pulled a hand through his tousled red mane. Fuck it all to Hell. He had _work_.

Could this day get any better?

000

Apparently it could.

First of all, being an administrative assistant to a consulting company had never really been one of Axel's aspirations. Sure, he liked to talk on the phone and rank up the minutes on his cell phone bill and he did it whenever possible. But that was when he was talking with his bloody friends. At work, he answered the phones and answered the stupidest questions from the clients. And he filed papers. And he drank coffee. At least he got his own hole-in-the-wall office with a door, unlike the poor souls stuck in the cubicles just outside. He was just glad that he could jerk-off behind his desk without anyone noticing.

But this particular day, he was hit by a particularly large and particularly unpleasant bomb.

Axel's day was going rather smoothly until The Boss, The Man (or Dude), Ciddie-Widdie, or Top Asshole – otherwise known as Cid Highwind, Axel's boss and the top executive in the building, decided to unload the tax information for the whole fucking company onto the ever so delighted redhead's desk. Said filing consisted of three boxes – not those flimsy few-inch tall ones; we're talking about free-cute-puppy-take-one-sized boxes – filled to the brim with nicely stacked tax reports and company spending for the past year. Axel could almost see his not-so-snazzy and tired desk sag under the weight.

To Axel's most expected surprise, there was no logical order to the papers. What. So. Ever. Leave it to Ciddie-Widdie to leave papers scattered fucking everywhere and then put them all in one spot and make the underpaid assistant sort it all out. The boxes towered over him as he sat on his not-quite-executive-level-of-comfy-ness rolly chair, the mildly impressed administrative assistant staring blankly at the work.

Damn. So much for looking up porn today.

Well, the boxes were definite eyesores. Good thing Axel had the looks to keep that stuffy office alive, or else these colossuses would have peeled the paint right off the walls, along with the remainder of his ever-so-carefully trimmed eyebrows.

So Axel set to work, juggling the tasks of stuffing papers into chronological order and answering the calls that streamed in. Damn it all, did _all_ of the prank calls get forwarded to him? He really should put in a note at the next meeting about reducing the number of television commercials they put out. Really, do you need to inform people watching a re-run marathon of Dancing with the Stars that they could be getting more customers for their businesses, optimize their commercializing, and manage their spending?

Highly. Doubtful. You. Shitheads.

Not that Axel would ever _say_ that to the Top Asshole's face. His job was already dangling because of his two Monday mornings in the past month when he had run slightly late with a bitch of a hangover. So, Axel didn't risk too much. Which meant no more pranks dealing with bathrooms with Demyx, who had gotten him into this hell of a job in the first place. Some friend _he_ was. So Axel's lack of mischief reduced his rebellion to, 'Hey, I don't _feel_ like un-clicking my pen before I put it back in my desk, and I _won't_ use a coaster on my desk for my coffee. What'cha gonna do about it, punk?'

So Axel organized, keeping his mind occupied by searching for spending frauds. Oh, hey, someone paid for a fancy dinner. And look, a first-class ticket to… Las Vegas? Axel's gaze wandered down that particular page and found another unspecified charge. A smirk crossed his features. Well, _someone_ had had a little fun.

Now, this was the most fun he had had at work since he was hired – that and when he and Demyx had teamed up and together they had managed to clog up every toilet in every woman's restroom on their floor as well as the two floors below theirs. Now, that had been pretty fun. Axel was pretty sure they were still having some moisture and mold problems in the floors.

He continued through the papers. More stupid records of bulk office supplies bought. And then one caught his attention. A three dollar charge for… flavored condoms? That one Axel had to laugh out loud at. So _that's_ why he hadn't been charged for them. And he had assumed that the cute and obviously closeted guy at the grocery store had just given him the slip. Axel crumpled up the paper and stuffed it in his pocket. Hey, it was only three dollars, right? Who had to know? The redhead resolved to put three extra dollars in the bagel money box on his afternoon break.

It took Axel two hours to finish organizing the first box, the documents paper-clipped according to the date and whether it was a tax report or a company spending record. Minus his own record, of course. The redhead was all too thrilled to get that box the hell out of his office. Well, it would have helped if he had been able to actually make it all the way out of his doorway before he hit a most unfortunate brick wall. Scratch that – it was a train going full-fucking-throttle through the hallway. Holding one of those cardboard coffee holders with piping-hot mochas and cappuccinos, just as luck would have it. Axel barely saw a wisp of blond before a wide arc of said hot beverage flew through the air, followed closely by the box of papers that had suffered the brunt of the collision. Needless to say, the box ended up empty and the floor very cluttered by its contents, two bodies, and more coffee than should have ever been possible to cram into those freaking cups. Except… those papers weren't supposed to help sop up the coffee, but they were doing a damn good job. And so was Axel's shirt.

This whole scene was taken in by the redhead, currently recovering from his intimate meeting with the floor. Damn, he was going to have a bruise _somewhere_ that wasn't very attractive.

"Shit." His hands flew to the papers, trying his best to salvage as much as he could from the wicked staining liquid. It was only then that he heard the frantic apologies spewing from the train that had wrecked almost on top of him. Axel didn't even spare a glance at the fucking cause of the disaster, muttering colorful profanity as he scrambled.

A second set of hands set to work beside him, the streaming apologies continuing. That was when Axel decided to acknowledge the other's presence.

"Dude, shut the fuck up and get some paper towels. You want forgiveness? Take it up with The Boss." Now, that was Axel being extremely ticked off, sleep-deprived, and annoyed at all of his hard work gone to waste. He'd be lucky if he didn't have to stay and work overtime for the next fucking _week_.

The blond stopped moving. But he didn't leave. Smoldering green whipped to glare at the cause of the mess and he saw _blue_. Blue like… woah, _blue_. And he froze as well. Rumpled blond spikes, cerulean blue eyes, mouth agape and just staring stupidly.

It was… eerie, the way he just stared, completely frozen like a deer in the headlights. And yet, Axel couldn't help but stare right back at those wide crystal blue eyes.

--

_He felt a smirk cross his face, "What're you looking at, kid?_

_Curious blue gave way to smoldering cerulean, "Fuck off, I'm not looking at anything." The redhead's smirk grew. Well, of course he hadn't been looking at anything, because he had been looking at a nothing._

--

A chill passed through Axel's chest. And there was those blue eyes again, awestruck and just as he remembered them to- Wait. Remembered? What the fuck? He had never seen this stupid kid before in his life. And that kid was pissing him the fuck off and he was _not_ joking or freaking _flirting_ with him. Damnit.

Axel broke the moment by turning towards a more fucking pissed-off demeanor, disregarding whatever the hell had just passed through his mind, "Paper towels. _Now_, you little-" he was never able to finish, the blond standing and tearing down the hallway like there was some kind of devil at his ankles.

Thankfully, only a few of the papers were soaked and the rest were just spattered by the spilled coffee. The carpet would be a bitch to clean, but that wasn't his problem. Now all that was left was to… put the papers back in order.

Fuck. It. All. To. Hell.

The blond returned with a fist-full of paper towels, which were taken by a now savage redhead, and all other offers to help were shot down, the redhead not gracing the kid with a second glance.

He gathered the papers into his arms – not caring that they further stained his best white work shirt and his favorite black and red checkered tie – and locked himself in his office, ignoring the continuing apologies still spewing from the blond. Axel didn't emerge from his office until his lunch break, looking both ways for coffee-transporting trains before he dared leave his sanctuary from Hell.

Axel ignored the comments about his stained shirt – "Hey Axel, your mouth is a bit higher up," "Going for the grunge look, huh?" "Dude, what's eating your chest? Looks like some kind of gremlin." And so on.

Demyx joined him, and damn, did that blond get an earful of bitching from Axel, lasting for almost the entirety of their lunch break.

"Why don't you give him some slack, Ax? He's probably new," Demyx reasoned over his caesar salad.

Axel scowled, expression not well-hidden behind his sandwich, "Does it look like I care?"

His friend just rolled his eyes, "Well, what does he look like? Maybe I've seen him before."

"He's a little shrimp with a fucking pouty face. And he has blond hair that looks like it hasn't been combed since yesterday morning." Axel took a swig of his root beer.

Demyx grinned, "You have that in common."

Axel's jaw dropped, "Like you have any right to say _anything_ concerning hair, Dem." A smirk broke out on the handsome face as the blond ducked away from his hair-threatening hand.

"Hey, don't take your inability to style your hair out on me," the blond brandished his plastic salad fork. Said action caught Axel, who burst into laughter.

"What, you going to try and comb my hair with that?" Demyx narrowed his gaze and scowled, which was more of a pout for him, before giving a wicked grin.

"No, but I'd be happy to fork your eyes out for you." The blond's grin widened as Axel jumped back from the utensil. He then dove into his sandwich and pulled out a half-eaten slice of meat. Blue eyes flew open and a wild look crossed Axel's face.

"Bologna," he whispered menacingly, shaking the meat like a Polaroid picture, shoving it into Demyx's face, who cringed. Axel continued, voice getting stronger as he went, "My Bologna has a first name, It's O-S-C-A-R. My bologna has a second name, It's M-A-Y-"

"Oh, God, not the mystery meat from Hell song! Take it away!" Demyx squirmed in his chair, trying his best to shove the offending cold cut away without actually _touching_ said meat. Axel simply continued to grin, but took a big bite out of the bologna, effectively grossing the hell out of his friend. "God, how can you _eat_ that crap, Axel?"

"Easy. You bite and chew." To annunciate that fact, he finished off the slice. "It's really not that fantastic, but watching your reaction makes it all worthwhile."

"I knew there was a reason why I went vegetarian when I was thirteen. It was that stupid hotdog commercial. Fucking bologna." Demyx stabbed his salad with his fork savagely, relishing in the non-meatiness of it.

Axel grinned. He liked fucking bologna. But not the kind that he had just been eating. The redhead crammed his sandwich into his mouth to keep his dirty thoughts to himself and to prevent the corruption of his friend. Though, Demyx had pretty much already been fully corrupted by him.

They finished their lunches with some minor bantering and went back to the office, where Axel continued bitching and complaining to himself in his closed workspace. The two remaining boxes still towered on his desk, just waiting to get tackled.

Axel let out a groan before shoving the next set into his arms.

--

**End Notes:** What do you think so far? It's a bit different than my other fic, no? Leave a review and get brownie points, my darlings!


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** Guh, how the hell did I write a chapter every three days with AWFY? I must've gained a life since then. Doesn't seem like it, though. Anyhow, here is the next chapter! I'm thinking an update schedule of one chapter a week would be good until summer vacation starts. I'll just see what works out.

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Chapter 2

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What the fuck _had_ that little vision been? It reminded Axel of… his dreams. But having one while he was awake? Unheard of.

The thoughts that streamed through Axel's head at a relentless pace were quite able to keep the boredom of sorting papers at bay. But then again, any other sort of distraction would have been quite welcome. Some music would have helped, but damned Ciddie-Widdie had to be all bitchy about any kind of attention adverting action. Really, did it matter if some of the paper pushers were distracted by his throbbing rave music? It would make _Axel_ work harder, in any case, and he was on a higher level than those freaks in the cubicles. He should at least get something more for his efforts. Either that or more than just enough money to pay the rent.

Back to the tax information. Which had Axel's halfway-full attention. Boring. Tedious. Mind-numbing. After another three hours, he finally managed to complete organizing his second box, which he then, after looking both ways before crossing the train tracks, carried out of his office and placed it in Cid's beside its brethren.

Axel strolled past the dull gray cubicles, snapping his fingers to a song running through his head, and found himself passing by the break room. A thought: why not pay off that three dollars into the bagel money collection box and kill another bird with the same stone and grab some of those pop tarts he had seen being stocked in the vending machine? Hell, he was feeling pretty snazzy in his spare shirt that he had changed into, and he was two-thirds of the way done with his tedious project for the day. Why not give himself a well deserved treat? Even though he would have gotten the pop tarts no matter his workload.

So he continued on, strolling his way right into the break room, only to have his heart sink into his stomach before it flew up to lodge itself in his throat.

Holy shit fuck.

It was the blond-headed train from before, sitting perfectly still with his eyes glued onto one of the communal coffee mugs. He was slouched over, expression blank. He didn't even give the slightest acknowledgement of Axel's presence. He looked lost and vulnerable. Fragile, even.

And Axel loved to burst bubbles, especially since his own had been abolished by the very person who sat before him. It wasn't quite anger that came over him while looking at the guy, but it was close enough.

The door eased shut behind Axel and he stepped into the room, "You keep staring, but it still won't drink itself."

To Axel's great surprise, the blond hadn't turned into a statue, but actually glanced up and – holy shit, there were those blue eyes again. Instant recognition lit up his face and he jolted back in his chair, letting out a, "Holy sh-" but choked down the swear before it could fully develop.

Axel let out a snort, knowing full well why he had discontinued, "Relax, I'm not your boss." He walked past the blond to the vending machine on the opposite wall. Damn, if he were that guy's boss, his ass would be all over the sidewalk outside the front sliding doors with a sizeable boot print adorning it.

The eyes left Axel and looked back to the mug. A light scoff came next, "Everyone here is my boss."

The redhead turned around and saw the other's hunched back, only mildly interested, "How so?"

The blond turned, eyebrows slightly raised, "Were you not at the last meeting?" This made Axel think. He actually had been to the meeting, but they never meant much to him and thus, they were not graced by his attention. He was pretty sure that he had snuck his headphones on and pretended to be reading a pamphlet the entirety of the time. The only thing he remembered was the delicious doughnuts on the refreshment table.

The question posed received a blank stare, and the blond returned his attention to his drink, replying with a simple, "I'm the intern."

Axel grunted, punching in a few choice buttons on the vending machine, "I thought you were just the coffee boy." The metal spiral ground around, bringing his prize closer, inch by tormenting inch. Shit, why did it always take longer to get the snack of your choice?

"I'd might as well be," was muttered in return. A mug was lifted, Axel's prize snack fell into the bin, and the mug was set back down. "Ugh, how can you stand drinking this?" Apparently the coffee had been made by some dweeb who didn't know how to make the already crappy tasting drink. But the junk that they bought wasn't half bad if it was brewed correctly. Honestly, if you can't put the pre-ground and fucking pre-packaged in the filter and everything in the freaking machine and press the on button correctly, you shouldn't be allowed to leave elementary school.

Axel smirked, relishing in his supreme knowledge of the workplace, grabbing his pop tarts and opening a cupboard and retrieving the oddly shaped plastic container of powdered coffee creamer. He swiveled around and set it down beside the intern's hand on his way to a chair on the opposite end of the oval table.

"Use that. It keeps the coffee from tasting like mud." Axel would have liked to use a quite different word to describe the putrid crap, but his cocky oh-I'm-so-much-more-mature-than-you demeanor didn't feel like it was going to go away any time soon. He plopped down in one of the few chairs, sitting just slightly to the side of the point of the oval. He stretched out his overly long legs, resting his business-like shoes on the tabletop, crossing them at his ankles. This received a rather quirky glance from the blond. Axel could only imagine how badass he looked at that moment.

The intern turned his attention to the creamer, "Am I even allowed to use this?"

Axel tore open the package he clutched and shrugged one shoulder, "It's about the only perk this hellhole has. Anyone in the office can use it." A corner of his berry pop tart was stuffed into his mouth, "So I guess that includes you now as well. Welcome to the eighth floor, kid."

--

"_Welcome to the club, kid. Leave your weapons at the door. No hearts allowed," a smirk crossed the Flurry of Dancing Flames' devious lips, the blank blond wincing at the bluntness of the ground rules. The newest member's neck snapped as he was clapped on the back by Xigbar, adding shock to his numb confusion._

_Number II had a tight grip on the blond's shoulder, "Now VIII, that's not very kind of you. What if poor XIII hasn't lost his heart?"_

_A dull flash issued from a corner and one of Xaldin's many spears hovered before its bearer maliciously, slightly blue meta glimmering in the shadowed light. A wicked grin played across his features, "That's quickly remedied. VIII, go check him." A smirk. _With pleasure.

--

"I'm not a kid, you know. And thanks, I guess." The blond snatched up the creamer, scowling. Axel blinked, fingers poised over his snack, but he remained unmoving. Two daydreams in one day? Where the hell were these coming from? He gave himself a mental shake.

"Just feel lucky that I don't have a box full of important tax papers with me. But in any case, be careful with that thing. Or any other beverage, for that matter." Another corner of the pastry went in to his mouth, "But if you do happen to upset the balance of coffee and gravity, make sure it's not on the boss. Which pretty much means everyone, by your definition."

The blond looked as if he had shrunk about a foot or two in his chair. His meek muttering didn't help his image any, "Yeah, sure. Thanks for clarifying." He promptly tipped the opened container over his drink, swirling the liquid in silence as Axel continued to nibble on his snack. The blond spoke up after a long, almost awkward silence, "So what do you do for fun around here?"

"Fun? At work?" Axel coughed out, somewhere between a laugh and an incredulous snort at the guy's sheer naivety. "You've got to be kidding me. Those two words don't even belong in the same paragraph as each other. Cid wouldn't think twice about firing someone on the spot if he caught them goofing off. Who knows what the hell he would do with _you_."

The blond grunted, eyes only for the rapidly depleting supply of coffee in his mug, "Point taken." He took one last swig and stood, grasping both mug and creamer and turning to the counter. Axel smirked to himself. Damn, that guy was short. There was a clatter and the blond dove into the sink, apparently saving the stupid mug from shattering. Damn shame it didn't. He paused then, clutching the plastic container.

"Cupboard to your left, second shelf," Axel instructed the blond cockily, receiving a grunt of thanks, reaching to put the item in its indicated spot. That was, until the redhead gave further instructions, "from the top." Narrowed blue eyes rounded on him and he couldn't help a giddy grin at his own mischievousness, "Don't worry, I'll put it up for you." But Axel made no move to get up.

"Fantastic," the blond ground out, taking a sponge and liberally adding soap to it before attacking his mug. Oh, was it fun to press his buttons. Especially since they were so freaking _obvious_. He scrubbed for a bit and Axel continued working away at his snack, now much more interested in the working blond, elbows jutting out and back turned. Oh, wicked dirty mind, how thee is loved so.

The blond was probably regretting that extra soap he had applied to the sponge. It could be a bitch to get off. "I'm Roxas, by the way," the blond muttered.

--

"_Number thirteen – Roxas."_

--

Green snapped to blue and the blond shot out a question, "What?" God, those eyes looked just like-

Axel hummed in question before his brain switched on, "Yes, hello, Roxas." Why did that name flow so easily to his lips?

The deadpan blond stared back, water in the sink still running, but the cup was long free of any soap, "You just said thirteen."

Blue, blue eyes-

Axel quirked an eyebrow, "I what?"

Roxas turned away, grabbing a paper towel and drying the mug, "That's my lucky number, you know."

He had said something? When had he said it? Damn, this was confusing. Axel turned to his default cocky self, "What, you trying to be cool by picking an unlucky number as your lucky-ducky one?" Nice comeback, Axel. Nice. Oh, look at that, you've scared him off. Look at that scowl. Damn it.

"Why am I still talking to you?" The crumpled paper towel was thrown into the trashcan and his back was retreating – stepping further and further away…

Axel snapped, casual demeanor giving way to a frantic feeling deep within his chest that he could not quite explain, "Oi, Roxas, wait!" Why was there a chill of fear beside his heart when he saw that blond walking away?. He stuttered before forming a halfway decent excuse for his outburst, "I'm Axel." The blond stopped. Razor eyes snapped towards him. "Nice to meet you, I guess."

He was scrutinized at the relatively short distance from where he sat to where the blond stood beside the closed break room door, "You sure we haven't met before?"

Funny, Axel had been wanting to ask the same question. But the answer was still and would always be, "Nope, quite sure."

The intern's face fell slightly, but his tone was carefully guarded, "Oh. Well, sorry again for earlier. I'll see you around." The door was opened and pulled shut before Axel could fully come to terms with Roxas' reaction. Damn, that was weird. But not nearly as crazy as the almost unstoppable urge to run after the blond and beg for him not to leave. But he didn't know fucking _why_ and it was driving him _insane_.

000

The remainder of the day wasn't nearly as exciting. After Axel had collected his scattered brain off of the break room floor, he had to go unscramble more fucking papers. He didn't see the mysterious train-slash-shortie Roxas at all. He was either working somewhere else on the floor or the blond was officially avoiding him. Axel wouldn't be surprised if it was both. He could blame his damned wandering mind and his not so smart mouth for that.

He was going nowhere fast with this guy. But did he even want to get somewhere? A better question: was there somewhere to go, or was it a shadow of a nothing that he was mindlessly chasing?

--

**End Notes: **Oh, so many questions! Will Axel ever get answers? Will Roxas stop being a jerk? Will either of them get laid? WHO KNOWS?! Find out in the coming chapters! BUAHAHA!! Oh, your reviews kick ass, you know. Love you to pieces, peeps! By the way, the "Holy shit fuck" is my personal favorite swear to use. Axel stole it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: **Holy cow, sorry for the lateness! This week has been so freakishly hectic with projects and all kinds of Hell. But I had my official last day of high school yesterday and it was AMAZING. And I'm graduating on Thursday! Anywho. So that's where I've been. Enjoy the chapter.

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Chapter 3

---

_Light billowed into the oscillating darkness, briefly illuminating a slightly boyish face set in concentration, a second face equally brightened, tattoos stark against the overly pale cheeks._

_A chuckle. Amusement._

"_No, no. Like this," a gentle voice caressed the thick air. Large gloved hands clasped around a second pair, equally clad in the black material, fingers lacing together enticingly. The blond pressed his back into the chest of the redhead unconsciously, allowing his arms to be moved in a swirling pattern, cutting through the blackness. The Flurry of Dancing Flames could feel his namesake flicker at his fingertips, careful not to let his inner fire burn the other. Rather, he allowed for the flames to pass through the blond, their energies blending together._

_A different kind of light flickered to life before them, following the motions of their clasped hands created by the pyrokinetic nobody. Tendrils of flame danced from their fingertips, the light emanating from them pure white._

_It seemed to breathe with them, growing and swirling with every movement. It throbbed with the heart that neither had, mocking their existence in its creation. A thought occurred to the redhead: if they could create, were they really nothing? Nothing can be created by nobody. This was not just a nothing. It was like a soul, dancing before them, an entrancing parody. It was the only thing resembling true life in the dark corridor between worlds._

_Lips were lowered behind a delicate ear, words caressing skin, "I make the fire, you provide the light."_

_It took a moment for the blond to respond, his voice distant when he finally did, "It's… beautiful." This made the redhead smirk affectionately, if he could be allowed that much feeling. The Key of Destiny never commented on anything like that. Perhaps he saw the farce life they had produced. The redhead pressed closer to the blond, the latter falling in place as if his only existence had been for that sole purpose._

_The light began to flicker, orange showing through the white hue. A second chuckle filled the silence, "You're losing concentration." The flames were consumed by the darkness and slowly faded away, the redhead drawing their arms across the blond's chest and lightly holding him, the slightest bit of resistance building in the smaller of the two, his mind slowly returning to him._

"_Do you think we could use this on a mission sometime?" The blond inquired softly, still in the cloud in his mind, not entirely aware of how the Flurry of Dancing Flames held him close, almost protectively. But the embrace stiffened as the words left the mock Keyblade Master's lips._

"_I don't think the Superior has to know about this." His whisper was carefully guarded, not entirely sure the degree of his devotion to Number I._

_Blond spikes brushed lightly at tattooed cheeks as he turned his head slightly, a question upon his lips, "Why would we keep it a secret?"_

"_We don't have hearts, remember?"_

---

Axel woke, heartbeats strangely subdued, with an incurable question racing through his mind. What the hell did hearts have to do with anything? You couldn't live without one. It was necessary for life. Green eyes were rolled at his strange subconscious. Shit, what other crap could it come up with? This was far beyond flying ponies and banana kings. This was surrealist painter status. Damn, he hated surrealism.

Annoyed cat-like eyes turned to the tacky alarm clock sitting on the floor beside a pile of either dirty or clean clothes. It didn't really matter which was which. A shirt was a shirt, right? Hey, he didn't smell. Though, Axel was pretty sure he had missed laundry day the last week. Maybe that was why there were so many clothes and crap on his carpet.

The redhead hissed a curse and slammed his pillow over his head in agitation. Since when had he actually consistently woken up before his alarm clock started to go on the fritz? It was a good hour before he actually had to lug his lanky limbs out of his warm cocoon and face the chill of the morning air.

And since when had he been so fucking poetic in the wee hours of the morning? Axel burrowed deeper into the blankets, trying to force the intrusive thoughts of his dream out of his mind in favor of catching just a little bit more sleep. If only he was so lucky.

000

"Axel," a hiss made its way through his muted ears. His name was repeated, more insistent this time around, with an elbow to his side accompanying it. Axel's attention snapped instantly to the dirty blond sitting just beside him. "You need to pay attention."

Axel leered at his friend, "I am."

"You've been staring at your paper and scribbling for the past ten minutes, Ax. Besides, Cid is talking about something important," was whispered. A vague voice was speaking, all other attendees of the meeting hanging, more or less, on their boss' every word.

"Why should I care?" Axel growled back. To save Demyx an exasperated explanation of why he should pay attention while at a very important executive meeting, the voice rose and broke into Axel's ear.

"It is required for all divisions of the company to send two representatives to this conference. Due to our budget cuts, I have decided to send Demyx and Axel. Would that work for both of you?" Ciddie-Widdie's glare turned from sweeping around the long rectangular conference table to the two males sharing a mostly one-sided conversation.

Demyx snapped to attention just as fast as Axel and posed a stupefied question, "Us?" His face brightened as he turned to the redhead, "Hey Ax, we're going to the training conference thing!" And back to Cid, "Wait, when is it?"

He got a slow blink from The Dude in return, "The second week in February. In other words, it is next week. You will be leaving on Tuesday and returning the following Sunday."

Axel could almost see the calendar in his friend's brain flashing across those blue eyes – not nearly as blue as- "I can't go. I'm performing that Thursday."

Axel's heart sunk. Damn, there went his fun. Spending a week with Demyx at a boring training would have been the best thing that happened to him since they had snuck into that upper-scale dance club and had gotten totally smashed while having the time of their lives dancing on the tables. They had gotten kicked out when they had offered to strip for tips.

"That's too bad." Probably because he didn't have another employee with such low wages. Now he'd be stuck with some dweeb, goody-two shoes, and otherwise snobby- "Roxas!" Cid called to somewhere beyond the redhead's line of vision, gruff voice rasping. Now, that certainly perked Axel up a bit.

A mildly disinterested but awake, "Yes, sir?" echoed from across the room, though the wild head of blond spikes was hidden from prying green eyes.

"You will be attending the Workforce Performance Conference and Training this next week with a coworker." Apparently Axel didn't have a high enough standing to be referenced to as an 'Axel'. "It will not interfere with your intern hours and it will be a good learning experience."

"That'd be fine with me, Mr. Highwind." Aw, this dude was cute when he was all proper and professional. Now Axel _really_ wanted to see him from behind the solid wall of executive personnel. He was probably just as adorable to look at.

"Great," Cid replied gruffly, "I will brief you on your departure times at a later time, now, back to…" Axel's attention lost focus once more. Damn, an entire week with the intern? This could be fun. And he wasn't too bad of a looker. Demyx was busy mumbling about how much fun they would have had, ultimately being a complete hypocrite for not paying attention to Cid's continued ranting.

The rest of the meeting ran by without much event, Axel failing to pay attention, as usual, and Demyx trying his best to stay awake while taking hardly legible notes, as usual. After an unthinkable amount of time, Cid released his slave workers to go back to their work. Except Axel had yet to pay back the money he had borrowed for those flavored condoms. So he pulled aside to the tacky fold-up snack table and dug around in his pocket for his wallet.

And there was the little basket beside the hap-hazard tower of bagels. Axel pulled a crumpled wad of ones and sifted through them, dumping the money into the basket before reaching, reaching, _reaching_ for one of the delicious breakfast treats. His fingers were almost there, just a few more-

"Why did you put in four dollars?" Axel's hand leapt back and he swiveled on a blond that should have been no more than slightly familiar, "Those things are only one each." A scowl came across the redhead and he snatched up his pastry. But then he had a thought. He would be spending the next week with this guy and he really didn't feel like getting castrated in his sleep. So he turned off his ticked-off demeanor in favor of a cocky one.

There was an inner fire behind his eyes. Axel could feel the mischief emanating from his gaze, "I'm compensating for an accidental purchase on the company card."

Roxas was filling up a cheap Styrofoam cup with some of the shitty coffee and proposed an uninterested question, "What'd you buy?"

That was when Axel put on his trademark sly smirk, "Protection." He tore off a piece of his bagel and set to work chewing the thing.

Roxas snorted in return, dumping far too many spoonfuls of sugar into his cup, "What, from bed bugs?" He got one of those damn horrible tasting wooden stirring sticks and had begun stirring his drink. Oh, and yes, Axel did lick those things when he was finished stirring his whatever drink. It was good to practice tongue work.

Emerald green was rolled, "You could call it that." Another piece of bagel was stuffed into his mouth before he motioned to the cup Roxas was doctoring up, "Careful with that thing."

It was the blond's turn to roll his eyes, "Yeah, sure. See you around, then." Roxas turned and walked towards the door, dull and with coffee in tow.

---

_The black coat swirled behind the petit blond as he stepped confidently down the barren hallway, acting as though it had been nothing. The redhead felt the strongest urge to follow him, to breathe his air once more with that same sense of intimacy. It made him feel like he was needed, not just alive for the purpose of living a lie._

_The Flurry of Dancing Flames wanted more. He was not satisfied and didn't see if he could ever be satisfied without the pleasure of a heart to feel what he wanted. He wanted it to be something more, something worth continuing. Something worth the trouble and Hell that they would both get if they were caught. He wanted that searing skin against his own once more, but with the gratification of winning the true affection of it. He wanted to know the passion behind the kisses and to connect with more than just their bodies._

_But the blond didn't care. He couldn't care, because Xemnas demanded it. So number VIII would wait, and he was rewarded every time his partner in battle felt the need to know if he still existed or not._

---

Axel stared at the blond's retreating back, "Uh, yeah, see you, Roxas." His distracted hand grabbed a cup and followed the petit's actions, without the ample amount of sugar. He put in enough, but it was a tolerable amount. He didn't notice those blue eyes turn back to look at his striking features as he stirred his drink, a sense of déjà vu overcoming them both.

Axel left the meeting room and was instantly bombarded by his best fucking friend in the whole world.

"Dude, what took you so long?" Demyx pried, stealing a piece of Axel's bagel in the process, each of them making their slow way back to their offices.

"I had to get some delicious breakfast. It's not like I get that every day." The redhead tried to blow his friend off, but Demyx wasn't letting him off that easily.

"You were talking to that intern, Axel. I've known you too long to not see when you've got your predator face on. You can't do that with a coworker, Ax! Especially not one that you'll be spending the better part of a week with."

This earned Demyx a smirk, "Honestly Dem, do you really think I'm that bad? Who do you think I am?"

He got a blank stare in return, "You're Axel."

The redhead hummed thoughtfully as they approached the door to his office, "Yeah, you've got a point. Well, I'll see you at lunch then."

"Don't you dare try anything, Ax. You know that Cid would be all over your ass if you do."

Axel gave a fake cringe, "No way is he getting anywhere near my chiseled rear."

"Yeah, someone'd already be in the way." He was shoved away and Axel promptly slammed the door in his friend's face.

---

**End Notes: **Oh gasp, heaven forbid if Axel ever got caught for misconduct with a fellow employee. Buahaha. It only goes downhill from here.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: **Huzzah, hoooooray, I am now officially graduated from high school. Helloooo college, here I come! So, that's why this chapter is a bit later than I would like. Blame my teachers for giving tons of projects and stuff.

-- --

Chapter 4

--

Damn.

That was it. Just damn.

How was it that Axel could actually like Demyx when he was like this? Sure, he loved the cooky blond to death, but sometimes he just ticked him off. But it was mostly when he started getting on his ass about his lifestyle when Axel just had to shut him out. Whether it was with selective hearing or a door between them. But hey, the redhead had grown a sturdy resistance to his best friend since middle school over the years.

Axel usually blamed Demyx's accusations about his so called "flaunting of his sex" on his own lack of someone to tango with. But that dude was a serious romantic and was quite adept at getting into relationships that didn't end up working out in the end. Axel just liked a good dirty fuck, no words exchanged, and no second dips. None of that whole 'let's get to know each other before we get jiggy with it.' It was just sex. No feelings, no emotions… heartless lust and pleasure.

Axel distracted himself with his – big surprise – work for that day, as well as his coffee and bagel. The calls streamed in, riddled with odd questions and a few pranks, and the papers piled up, ready to be recorded and filed.

But there was always something missing in Axel's life. There was something just a little bit off, like a juxtaposition in an art piece, or something just forgotten about in the composition. It was a prince without his sword of truth, if you would care to go into more metaphors. But it was a different thing that was missing in his dreams. No, in that sense, he was on maximum overdrive. It thundered in his chest and sent sparks through his veins. But it felt… wrong, somehow. Like one too many shots in a cup of coffee. Sometimes he just wished to be numb to the overload.

But when he looked at those blue, blue eyes of the intern… there was something in his head screaming a single word and a single need for just _more_. That's all it said: More.

Axel had been listening to the sound of his own bored voice talking to the most likely than not bitchy people on the other end of the phone line for the past three hours before he had even noticed the time pass. And, lo and behold, it was just about time for his fucking break. _Fantastic_. Axel punched on the call-redirector on his phone and shoved away from his bureaucratic wooden cage laden with papers still needing to be filed and scraps of papers with scribbled reminders of what he had to do.

The redhead let out a groan before digging around in a drawer and pulling out some change for the vending machine in the break room. Where he might see a certain petit blond who would mess with his already scrambled brain. But Axel had no such luck. The break room was empty and when he got his little bag of cookies, the hollow clatter of its journey down was a lonesome sound. It was nice, however, to be in complete silence for once, without the constant badgering of that damned phone right beside his ear.

But the thunder of his beating heart still droned on. Why was it now that he fully came to notice how out of place it was?

Axel continued his relentless chewing of the poor chocolate cookies that probably deserved a little better treatment, scowling into nothingness and thinking about and absolutely enraged at nothing.

Then there was blue. Like woah, _blue_. And he had a sudden, almost uncontrollable urge to jump out of his seat and grab the guy who probably had forgotten his name since that morning when it had last left those devilishly delicious looking lips. He just wanted to hold him and never let him leave – where to, Axel couldn't guess – to crush that flawless hot skin beneath his own. Wait- what the _fucking hell_ was he thinking? This guy looked like he was fifteen, for crying out loud! Excla-fucking-mation point!

Being a master of masks was no easy feat when he faced this guy, it seemed. But he gave it his all and barely mustered a, "Hey, Roxas." But that wasn't before the blond had stopped dead in his tracks and stared at him, yet again, like a deer in the headlights.

Axel got a simple and distracted, "Yeah." In return. The redhead watched as Roxas pulled down a simple white coffee-stained mug and filled it to the brim with the piping hot caffeinated drink that actually wasn't half bad that day.

Axel needed to say _something_. His mind was screaming at him to speak, but all his mouth could do was spurt out a casual, "So, getting a lot of work done for the boss?"

Roxas gave an unexpected snort, "Yeah, I've been stapling papers. Hey, I'm so good, I might just be promoted to stamping envelopes next month." Oh, that was some bite of sarcasm that little blond had there. Who knew he could pack such a-

--

_His chuckle echoed across the tiled surfaces, only dulled by the shatter of water as it fell from a single faucet in a line of unused ones. A second shower groaned and spurted to life a little ways down from where the Flurry of Dancing Flames bathed. Wild blond spikes wilted with the hot rain._

_Accusing and cold blue turned to him, "What's so funny?"_

_The redhead's smirk grew as emerald eyes wandered a bit, "It's amazing that you can pack such a punch with such a scrawny body." A blinding flash of light followed his words and a single keyblade was at his throat bare seconds later._

_Poison dripped from the Key of Destiny's words, and the redhead knew his threats were never empty, "You can't use fire in here, VIII, and you have no room for your chakrams. Care to repeat that?"_

"_Point taken." The keyblade dissipated and the acidic blond disappeared back into the steam._

--

"Stapling papers, eh? Can't be as bad as filing them." To Hell with those visions. It was his fucking overactive imagination. Him? In a communal shower with a fellow employee that he had just met? What the fuck?

Roxas opened the cupboard and Axel was forced to give a smirk at his thoughtful hesitation. The creamer was removed from the bottom shelf and dumped into the steaming cup. Yes, Axel could be courteous sometimes. But anything past that might be taking it a bit too far.

"Is it possible to get carpel tunnel or arthritis when you're nineteen?" The blond questioned as if he hadn't been phased by the redhead's obvious act to make his life just a little bit easier. Take _that_, karma. Thee shan't-

Wait. Nineteen? Roxas was nineteen? Damn, that was lucky. He seriously looked like he was still an underclassman in high school. Well, at least Axel couldn't be mistaken for a pedophile. Lord knows how many times he had caught himself fawning over a minor before. Oh, right. He was taking part in this conversation.

"No idea. Hey, maybe you should try taking calls. Some of the pranks I get are freaking hilarious." Well, that came out a bit smoother than he had thought, seeing that his brain was all different places at once.

Roxas actually turned his head and gave Axel the blandest expression he had ever seen, "I'd rather get swollen hand joints, thanks."

The redhead shrugged nonchalantly, "Suit yourself. You don't know what you're missing." Not much, really. He just didn't want to take more of those fucking bitchy calls.

The blond replaced the creamer and moved to the door, coffee in tow, "I'll survive."

"Yeah." The door closed between them before Axel could get out his, "See you later."

000

Soon, he was standing before Demyx's office door. He knocked lightly before waltzing right in. His best friend barely glanced up from his desk full of papers and working hands to acknowledge his presence.

Axel rolled his eyes, "What was that, Dem? Oh, I am doing just dandy. How about yourself? Wow, that's fantastic."

The frustrated dirty blond ground out in response to Axel's one-sided monologue, "Ax, I'm busy. What do you want?"

"Just a question." They had told each other everything over the years of their friendship. Whether it was family issues or guy troubles, they were always best buds. Hell, they even came out of the closet together. So why not ask this one?

"Sure," was the half-hearted grunting response.

"Well, you ever get the feeling that you've fucked someone that you see, but you can't remember exactly where or when?"

This made Demyx stop his busy shuffling and look up to stare blankly at his best friend, "No. Not all of us are whores, Ax." It took a really good friend to say that to his face. Anyone else, and they would have gotten a good old fashioned punch in the face.

Axel simply leaned a hip against the front of Demyx's desk, arms crossed over his chest, "Oh, I feel loved. And you've had your fair share, Demyx."

Blue eyes were adverted, "Not listening. Working."

"But, seriously Dem," Axel pressed on, not nearly as playful or joking as before, "Have you ever had that weird sense of knowing that something happened before with someone that you know, but it seems like a forgotten dream?"

"That's called déjà vu, Ax. Everyone gets them. Now get out of my office and get back to work. You probably have more work than I do."

Axel furrowed his brow before massaging the bridge of his nose, "I know what déjà vu is, but this is different. It really has nothing to do with where you are, just with the people around you."

"Axel, you think too much. Go get some caffeine and answer some phone calls. They might make you a bit more sane. If that doesn't work, then get a therapist. But someone who's not me, because I can't deal with you."

"You can deal with me when I'm drunk, right?" Now Axel knew he was pushing his luck just a bit more than he should.

Highly un-amused blue eyes looked up at him, "Axel, either your brain has finally shrunk to the size of a peanut or this job has gotten to your head."

"Hey," A finger was positioned dangerously close to Demyx's nose, "You're the one who got me into this job in the first place."

"And you'll be the one who'll get your ass booted out. But let me do the first honors by kicking you out of my office." This time, the blond actually stood up and smacked his friend upside the head.

Feeling and looking wounded, Axel gave a most manly pout and headed for the door, "Don't take your PMSing out on your best friend."

He opened the door and rushed out just as Demyx yelled after him, "I don't freaking PMS, Axel!" Little did the Mohawk dude know that about half of the slaves in the cubicles heard him and a few hushed chuckles bubbled into the room, Axel's joining in, though he was still shadowed by the question that was still pounding in his head with each painful beat of his heart. What the hell was going on?

--

**End Notes: **Okay, next chapter they should be on their way to the –insert dramatic music here- employee training thing whoooo

So, uh. Stay tuned.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note:** Sorry if this is a bit later than it usually is. Not that I actually have a timetable for updates or anything. Random side-note: I was in Las Vegas this past weekend and I stayed at the Luxor – you know, the pyramid shaped hotel/casino – and I was SO tempted to call it the Luxord. Hey, it's a gambling place, and with a name like that, what do you expect from a KH fanfreak?

-- --

Chapter 5

--

Okay. Screw 6 in the morning. Four in the frigging morning was by far more satanic. On any good day, Axel would just be getting to sleep at that time. Meaning the weekends and such. But the fact that he had to get up at four in order to wait for a stupid bitching airport shuttle in front of his apartment building put him over the edge. That and the fact that he had to lug all of his luggage down three flights of stairs at said ungodly time of the morning. He even had to shove by a drunken couple stumbling their way up the stairs.

Damn, it had been too long since he had gotten seriously drunk like that and screwed whoever he happened to be with into the wall… or whatever surface he could find. But _no_, he had to go on a damned business trip with a freaking intern who more often than not pissed him off. Not that he knew exactly why, but what the fuck. And no doubt the- what was it called? The Workforce Performance workshop crap – would be dull as hell. He'd be stuck with a bunch of geeky boss kiss-ups with pocket protectors for the next almost full week.

It was insane, the number of cars that drove by his apartment at 4:30 in the morning. And this wasn't even a very busy street. As it turned out, the shuttle was twenty minutes late. By that time, Axel had tried flagging down a number of vans that just so happened to not be the one he was waiting for. Damn, he hated feeling like a lunatic. But hey, it was 4 in the morning; he had a right to be somewhat insane.

It was when the driver actually got ticked off at _him_ when he had to run back and get his coat that really drove Axel over the edge. Was it not he who was waiting for the stupid driver for all that time? Plus, it was the freaking driver who asked him in the first place where the hell he was going and promptly gave him a weather report. How was Axel supposed to know before he packed away everything that it was cold this time of year in Hollow Bastion? Traverse Town was pretty warm most of the time, and Axel hadn't thought that his destination would be any different.

Oh how wrong he was. So, he had a pissed off driver, a huge black coat that was quite unnecessary since it was only slightly cooler at night than it was in the day in his lap, it was 4:45 in the fucking morning, and he still had a six hour plane ride to look forward to, and after that, another 3 hour flight because it was just _that_ far away. Shit, why did these mandatory workshops have to be all the way in another fucking world? Axel just _loved_ working in a chain that spanned the galaxy. What the hell did all these worlds need business and advertising advice for? Really, it made Axel wonder sometimes. It wasn't like people in Atlantis wanted advice on how to design paper fliers or the lions in Pride Lands needed commercials for hair products to be refined.

At least he got to meet people from other worlds… when they prank called him and asked him stupid bitchy questions.

It took until about 5 in the fucking morning until the van finally stopped in front of a gate. It was just light enough to see the… woah. Frigging huge mansion-like house beyond the gate and up the driveway. _Damn_. The whole thing was tricked out to look like some kind of resort paradise, with a perfectly manicured rolling lawn and picture-perfect planters. Hell, it probably had a fucking pool in the back, just beyond that patch of bamboo and palm trees.

"_Damn_," Axel let out an awed whisper and didn't notice the driver step out of the vehicle. But he _did_ notice when a certain blond intern with a fancy bookbag slung across his shoulder and pulling an almost matching suitcase behind him. Black and white checkered edging? Man, that guy was a stylish traveler. Axel's mismatched array of traveling items ranged from a clunky thrift store bought army-looking bag and the backpack he had been using since high school, complete with hardcore band patches and flames drawn by the one and only with a white-out pen.

Well then. Nice house. Either this Roxas guy had some kind of in on the stock market, was in a secret bandit society where he got half of the loot, or his parents were fucking filthy rich. It was quite a change of scenery from Axel's two and a half room apartment that he could barely afford to pay the rent for.

The back of the van was opened and the snazzy suitcase was tossed in, followed by a blond who climbed in the opposite side of the back seat without acknowledging the redhead's stunning and omnipotent presence. The driver got back in his spot and the engine roared to life.

They were halfway down the block when Axel decided to start the chatting. He turned to the blond, who still looked like he was half asleep, with his hair all askew. Though, he always kind of looked like that. Wow, that was one hell of a cowlick. Anyhow, Axel spoke up, "Morning." Better keep it to a minimum amount of speech this early in the morning. Who knew how awake the guy was?

He got a tired grunt in response, those blue, blue eyes shut to the world. Apparently he wasn't at all awake. A smirk worked its way across tattooed cheeks. He always liked them when they were vulnerable and cute like that. So molestable and- woah nelly. Coworker. Right. Already pissed off driver. Right. Job on the line. _Right_.

Axel continued his attempted conversation-making skills, "So, uh, nice house. Your parents rich or something?"

This got a bit more of a response. The guy even opened his eyes and rolled them in Axel's direction for a split moment and gave an uninterested, "I guess." Before turning his attention towards the checkered strap of his computer case.

They passed a few minutes in silence, with Axel drumming his fingers just beside the window opener button and Roxas picking at the strap, almost a nervous twitch.

Axel shot a glance at the blond, "Not a morning person?"

Roxas was blunt, "No."

Axel allowed his eyes to shut and head fall back against the headrest that was just a tad bit too low for him, "Good. Neither am I. At least I'm not the only one suffering."

The blond let out a small slightly amused snort, and remained silent. And there he was again, fiddling with that bag strap. He probably had a laptop in there – one of those fancy and spiffy ones that cost about three of Axel's paychecks. But hey, no judgments, right? So he had some money. It wasn't as if he had earned it himself. Stapling papers. Damn straight he didn't earn it.

--

"_What do you mean he's more powerful than me?" Fire sprang to life at his fingertips._

_The one who just so happened to be dressing his rather sizeable but superficial cut along his side jumped back with a yelp at the sudden heat, "Ax, careful! I'm not about to get a second degree burn for helping out your ass."_

"_So put some water on it. You're good at that," the redhead growled, but the flames whispered away in the grey room._

"_If you weren't such a pussy you might be able to get XIII's help on your missions instead of ticking him the hell off. That way you'd save yourself a double ass-whooping." The Cloaked Schemer drawled out, leaning against a far wall._

"_Get that scrawny kid's help? Yeah, that'd go over real well. A superior member asking for the newest recruit's help like a sad little lost puppy. Fuck no." A black gloved hand slammed down on the table beside the Flurry of Dancing Flames, said fire whisking out of his fist from the action. He gritted his teeth and hissed out, "What could be more powerful than raw flames?"_

"_I could put them out with a snap of my fingers, Ax," IX reminded him._

_VI lowered his head and the silver-blue hair flowed over to cover his right eye, "XIII controls light and is a keyblade bearer. His small form allows for quicker maneuverability." The redhead snorted and muttered something under his breath and cursed when the Melodious Nocturne tightened the bandage around his middle. Zexion continued on, "Although he is the youngest and newest member, his power exceeds that of many of us, as you have come to know from personal experience. Like it or not, he is part of the Organization now."_

"_Yeah, yeah. So you'll tell me to shut up and sit down while he tramples over all the rest of us." The pyrokinetic nobody stood and swiped his arm across the small cut on his cheek – courtesy of the fucking new blond recruit and the sister of the gash on his side – and relished in the stinging sensation. He took his black coat and threw it about his shoulders and shoved his arms through the sleeves before stalking away from IX._

"_Hey, where're you going?" The hydrokinetic nobody called after his friend, if nobodies could poses enough feelings for that kind of attachment. Demyx certainly believed they could, but VIII had his doubts. Although, the Flurry of Dancing Flames felt quite able to feel anger at that moment, even if it was only in his head and it wasn't a true feeling._

"_Superior is calling. Killing some heartless might get some of this steam off of my fucking back, anyway." VIII waved the two nobodies away before walking into the corridor of darkness to face Number I._

_The dark portal dissolved around him as he appeared into Where Nothing Gathers, already in his seat and in the process of zipping up his coat, which decided to get stuck at the wrong moment._

"_VIII." The Superior's voice boomed in its droning way through the circular room._

"_Yeah, Superior man? I'm listening." The slash at his side was also stinging, which made zipping up the jacket a rather painful ordeal._

"_You will be accompanying and instructing Number XIII on a training mission in Hollow Bastion." That sent a spark through the Flurry of Dancing Flame's hollow chest._

"_XIII?" He spat back, "Why does it have to be me? He's already proven himself strong enough." A shallow cough to his right caught the redhead's attention and he turned to see the Key of Destiny in his own chair, lower than his own since he hadn't actually gone on any serious missions before, and right across from Number I._

"_Because, VIII, you have not trained a new member yet, and XIII needs to be informed of our ways, regardless of strength. You are knowledgeable enough to teach him." Axel got a wicked and smug grin and threw it in the blond's direction, who continued his soulless scowl into the empty air before him._

_The pyrokinetic nobody turned back to the Superior, "Fine. When do we leave?"_

--

The shuttle driver made quick work of their traveling to the airport and promptly dumped them off on the sidewalk a few airlines away from where they needed to be. How many gummy airlines did one airport need? Obviously more than five, because that's how many the pair had to walk past to find their own.

They were standing in the luggage check-in line, which was moving at the pace of a moogle's leisurely slide on its tiny legs. Axel ran a tired hand through his flaming spikes and turned to the blond intern.

"You got your ticket?"

Blue eyes widened and the owner's hand dove into his pocket. It took him a split second to tear out the piece of paper, and he immediately melted into relief, "Yeah." His expression dulled once more and he put his findings back into his pocket, his hand shaking slightly as he did so. His voice was perfectly even and neutral, "You got yours?"

Axel gave a cocky and toothy grin, "I double and triple checked that I did have it."

Deep azure eyes were adverted and a disinterested, "Good for you," was thrown out.

Needless to say, it took forever until they actually reached the line for security, which also took forever to get to the front of. Axel took a few plastic bins and dumped his backpack into one and his bulky coat and shoes into another. Roxas hefted his bag and placed it in one and sent it through the x-ray checker.

Hey, Axel had nothing to hide. He had read up on all of the crap that you couldn't bring on the gummy ships. But that left him with mostly just his bright red iPod and a condom or two that he never did get around to clearing out. Oh, and chapstick. Hey, Axel traveled light, what could he say?

Axel walked past the metal detector without conflict. Roxas, on the other hand, was quite a different story. First off, he didn't take off his shoes. That was screw up number one. Then he got beeped for his bag and, lo and behold, he had to go into the special separate line for "suspicious" persons off to the side and with thick plastic walls so everyone could see the inspectee's humiliation.

So Roxas had to go through said clear tunnel of inspection, empty his pockets and have the black scanner bar thing and pat-down. Axel was content to continue snickering on side. The rumpled blond, now sporting a pretty shade of freaking pale on his cheeks, emerged with all of his searched-through and mussed crap in his arms with wide eyes and shivering slightly.

Axel continued to smirk as Roxas gathered his mind together, "You alright after your makeover?" Or rather, Did you have fun having those fat guys feel you up?

Blue was adverted and his belongings were clutched closer to his chest, "It's cold in here is all."

Axel lowered a trimmed eyebrow, "Really?"

Roxas pushed past Axel and took a seat just out of reach of the security officers, "The air-conditioning is freezing. And they made me take off my socks." And sure enough, there were a pair of perfectly delicious toes on the cold floor. The more than slightly self-conscious blond curled his toes at the stare-down the redhead gave them. Damn, those were freaking cute. Perfect to suck and- shit. Seriously, _shit. _Stop thinking about that.

Axel reintroduced Roxas to his smirk, "I shall praise the sacrifice and then mourn your feet."

Roxas, in turn, reintroduced Axel to his scowl, "Don't flatter yourself." He set to work dressing up his feet and packing everything back in its proper place in his bag. Axel sat back and enjoyed the show of more people being inspected, just as Roxas was. Damn, those pat-downs were awkward.

The redhead, just as Roxas was zipping up his bag, stood and gave a very important announcement to the blond, "I don't know about you, but I need some coffee. Maybe it'll stop that bitch from coming out of your mouth for a little while." Well, not so much an announcement.

The intern muttered in half-hearted protest, "I'm not bitching." He stood and followed as Axel wound his way through the crowd of shoeless people.

Axel laughed lightly at that, "God, you're just as bad as Dem when he's all PMSing."

Well, that got the blond's attention, and he gave a quite awake and bewildered, but mostly confused, "What?"

Axel shrugged it off, "Nevermind." He spotted a green circle glowing on the side of the terminal, "Oh, look. Here's a Starbucks. The drink of the Gods, second only to straight scotch."

"I can see where your priorities lie." Came Roxas' witty snippet.

Axel let out another brief laugh, "That easily? Wow, I must give off some powerful vibes, then."

"Or something." Was that a hint of a smile? Or just the shadows moving around in the early rays of sun coming in through the windows?

Soon, they both were sporting rather stylish white coffee cups and Axel was wolfing down a blueberry scone when the intercom buzzed in over their heads.

"_Flight 316 to Twilight Town is now Boarding sections B and C._"

Axel whipped out his ticket, the last mouthful of scone still in the process of being chewed, and scanned the slip of paper, "Thathsus Rothas."

The blond clutched his cup tighter and replied dully to the overly excited redhead with a simple, "Fantastic."

--

**End Notes: **Oh yeah, this is finally getting somewhere. I am having SO much fun writing these flashback-whatever-they-are things. Especially with Axel and Roxas bickering. Oh, this is going to be FUN.

And I actually had to do a bit of research for this chapter. All hail Kingdom Hearts Wikia.

Review, my pretties, and you shall get your choice between a cookie, brownie, or a flavored condom!


	6. Chapter 6

Author's Note: So sorry for the delay (once again, I know)

**Author's Note:** So sorry for the delay (once again, I know). I've been so busy with my life drawing class lately (MMM naked peeps. Gives me Axel thoughts. No, not really. But it gives me ideas for this thing.) SOOOO I've been a little bit... far away from the computer as of late. Yeah. Sorry 'bout that.

**Other Junk: **Hey, I got the first two KHII mangas and OMG peeps, the AkuRoku-ness in there is to DIE for. AHAH best line EVER: "What's with the getup? It's hilarious." AND AND!! The fight between Axel and Roxas during the struggle tournament is SO hot. They get into a… precarious pose, to say the least. Oh goodness, if you haven't read it, then PLEASE DO! It's amazing. Sorry. End rant, read on.

-- --

Chapter 6

--

"So, what were they checking you for?"

The blond's eyes didn't leave the window of the plane as it taxied around to the runway. His response was flat and dull, "I had my laptop in my bag and they told me I should have taken it out, because they couldn't see what it was."

Axel snorted in amusement, "So they practically almost did a strip search because of your laptop?" The intern remained silent at that. No wonder. It was humiliating enough, going through that with everyone outside watching. Now he had Axel reminding him of that traumatic experience, and damn if the redhead didn't love every second of it.

The engines roared and the gummi ship launched forward, accelerating before the ground dropped away beneath them, the wings catching the wind and biting through the clouds. Axel had let his eyes slip shut and, frankly, he imagined himself in a rollercoaster. Man, that was pretty fucking fun. What a rush, eh?

A smirk split across his cheeks, "I love it when you reach altitude and you feel weightless for a moment." He was mostly talking to himself, not that it mattered much.

"Do you?" Roxas replied tightly, more of a statement than anything else. Axel stole a glance at the intern and his completely neutral expression. The redhead would have bought it if it weren't for the blond's nails digging into the armrests.

"You doing alright there?" He inquired, not sounding as concerned as he actually was.

In return, he got a simple and curt, "Fantastic."

Axel didn't press the blond and opted to block out the world around him with the marvelous use of his iPod. He passed an hour or so in this fashion. So. Fucking. Bored. Out. Of. His. Mind. That was when the straight guy and lesbian eye candy came down the center aisle with the drink cart. The woman in the short-skirted uniform smiled at him.

"Would you like anything to drink, sir?" Axel could have gagged at the ample amounts of sugar and syrup coating her words. But, of course, he had to play the charmer. Axel fucking loved leading them on, even though he had no interest what so ever. It was just one of those things that he did.

The redhead slapped an equally sickening smile on his tattooed cheeks, the badass-ness of him diminishing substantially, "Of course. Who'd pass up that opportunity?" This got him a light giggle and it was all he could do not to roll his eyes, "I'll have some cranberry juice and my friend here," He smacked the rather oblivious blond's arm lightly, causing him to jump and hiss out a curse, "He'll have a ginger ale."

"Coming right up, sugar." Okay, that time Axel actually _did_ gag. She turned and went to work.

"I'll have a _what_?" Roxas inquired, quite confused. Apparently he had been dozing or something.

Axel turned and patted his shoulder in a friendly manner, "Trust me on this, Rox." He turned back when two cups filled to the brim with ice were handed his way and passed them off onto the blond to free his hands for the two beverage cans that followed. Axel nodded in thanks to the sugar-coated flirtatious stewardess.

Axel lowered his flimsy lap table before snatching the glasses away from the intern, who spoke up in protest, "I don't even like ginger ale."

The redhead laughed, filling each cup halfway with the cranberry juice, "Yeah, neither do I, but you'll love this." He filled the rest of the cups up with the ginger ale and handed one of them to the dumbstruck blond. "The best cocktail you can get on a gummi ship. Now all we need is some vodka, but I don't think they have that here." He took a sip out of his own cup, "Something about the alcohol content being used to make a bomb or some shit like that. But that's just dumb. You'd need a hell of a lot more materials than just that to make a decent explosion."

Roxas eyed off the drink before looking back to the redhead skeptically, "And you would know this _how_ exactly?"

Axel simply gave him a wild smirk before clinking his plastic glass to the blond's, "Cheers, coffee boy. Drink up before the ice melts, now." He took a swig and watched as Roxas did the same, but not without the slightest hesitation. Axel settled back in the economy-class chair and let out a satisfied sigh, "Some trip so far, huh?"

Roxas simply stared into the light red drink he was nursing and replied flatly, "Yeah, it's great."

--

"_You will depart immediately for Hollow Bastion." The Superior's booming and commanding voice echoed around the pure white walls of Where Nothing Gathers._

_Number VIII saluted to the Organization's leader and nodded at the newest member, "XIII, I'll see you there."_

_The blond's piercing blue eyes glared up at the redhead, "It would help if I knew where 'there' was." He kept the acid in his voice to a minimum._

_VIII's smirk widened, "You've never been there?" In turn, the other's scowl deepened. Oh, it felt good to be superior in knowledge, "Fine. Meet me at Memory's Skyscraper, then." He received a curt nod and both shrouded in darkness._

_The redhead took his sweet time walking through the corridor of darkness and emerged from the sphere of shadow onto the steps of the dark and deserted city, a tower standing before him and on the top, huge monitors flickering. Green eyes met the ever-changing screens and images of fuzzy memories that he had never lived passed through. That was when he heard a distant yell from somewhere up there. Had the screens gotten speakers since the last time he had been there? Wait… it sounded too familiar for that. That was the first clue, the second one being that the Key of Destiny was nowhere to be found._

"_VIII!" The surprisingly youthful voice called out, "Fuck… Hey, Flurry!"_

_Perfectly trimmed eyebrows were quirked in annoyance, "The roof?" He stepped through yet another portal and emerged just beside a hollering blond. The newest member was taken aback by the redhead's sudden appearance. Now VIII was beyond just annoyance. He was extremely pissed off and his inner fire raged, burning through to his glossy emerald eyes, "Hey _Key_, or should I just call you _Destiny_? How'd you get up here?" The screens were flickering right beside them, the ones closest to the blond strangely blank while a past life flashed by on the ones beside the redhead._

_The blond bared his teeth menacingly, "I'm getting the hang of these corridors, okay? And it's _Roxas_."_

_A gloved hand sliced through the night, trailed by hot and licking flames, "And I'm not VIII or fucking _Flurry_. It's Axel. A-X-E-L, got it memorized?" He may not have a heart, but he was his own person, not a number and not just the wilder of fire, God _damn_ it._

"_Are we going to go to Hollow Bastion or not?" Roxas spat, then about half as furious as Axel, which was enough._

_The redhead's enraged snarl made way for an equally as menacing smirk. He held out a hand and a corridor of darkness was born, "After you, princess."_

--

Axel was jarred from his light doze by a hand shaking his shoulder. Shaking being another word for making it seem as though there was a fucking 7 magnitude earthquake.

Forgetting exactly where he was or exactly who was shaking him, he shoved the pestering hand away and hissed out a, "What the fuck's your problem?" Furious green rounded on wide cerulean. Wait… why the hell was he so angry? It wasn't very often that getting a few hours less sleep would get him cranky like that. Wait… why did Hollow Bastion seem so familiar all of a sudden?

Completely ignoring the bite to his words, Roxas just blurted out a slew of questions, "Is the ship supposed to be shaking like this? And the seatbelt light just turned on. What does that mean?"

Axel blinked dumbly at him, wiping away whatever acrimony had possessed him before and realized that the gummi ship was being jostled around a bit, "It's just a bit of turbulence. What, have you never flown before?"

Blue eyes were adverted in what looked to be shame, "No, I have. It's just been a while."

"I see." Axel stared at the blond, carefully observing him, but the intern wasn't willing to give away any more hints as to what the hell was going on in that little head of his. The redhead looked past Roxas and out the window, where the stars passed slowly by, and let out a small chuckle. That got his attention, at least. Axel launched into a story that his mom may or may not have made up the first time he had flown in a gummi ship. "You know, a long time ago when the worlds were disconnected, the gummi ships used to be attacked on their flights by some kind of monster." Blue glinted strangely at that, but Roxas remained silent, so Axel continued, "But that was before people started the inter-world mingling. Yeah, they used to have these super guns on all of the ships to shoot them down. Then there was some kind of conflict, and they stopped attacking the ships. Which makes us perfectly safe, in the mean time." Roxas continued to stare up at those brilliant green eyes. "Hey, I'm not making this up. I'm not _that_ creative."

"Do you believe that? Do you think that there were monsters like that?"

Axel lowered a brow skeptically, "Well, I guess so. Why not? It sounds pretty wicked."

That was when Roxas decided to advert his gaze and relax just a bit, "What if it was just a myth?"

--

_Bright yellow eyes, staring at him in the darkness. But that creature _was_ darkness. It was the very image of it, thirsting for something, even though it already had one of its own. Something that he himself had been searching for. A heart made of light and shadows drifted to touch the stars just after the shadow was bitten by metal laced with flame. Maybe that one was his, but maybe it wasn't._

--

What the hell? "What are you getting at, Roxas?"

A smirk split across the blond's cheeks, "Just testing to see if you made up that crackpot story to cheer me up. Where'd you pick it up?"

"My mom told me."

"Aw, a bedtime story? How touching." Okay, now Axel was stuck next to a seriously bipolar guy and would be for another four hours for the remainder of the flight, and after that on their second flight right after the first. At least Axel would be able to get away from him while they waited for their luggage to be transferred to the other gummi at the airport in Twilight Town.

Now Axel was confused _and_ miffed at the blond's condescending tone. He leaned his head back into the headrest, "Yeah, you know you're jealous."

000

They passed the remaining hours in the gummi ship in relative silence. Relative meaning that Axel was flirting with the stewardess more without any actual interest. Hey, it got them an extra bag of pretzels to share, so who was complaining? Not that Roxas actually _ate_ his little snack. He simply stared out the window with his own iPod blaring in his ears.

They landed in Twilight Town Airport, which was far too small of a place to be considered a good place to host a transfer flight. That was when they looked up their next flight and discovered that it had been delayed for two hours. Well, there went that snazzy plan of getting to their destination on time. At least they didn't have anyone waiting to pick them up. That was about the only fortunate thing Axel could think of in their situation.

They picked up some lunch at one of the gummi terminal shops and Axel launched into conversation, because he just _needed_ to talk off all his restless energy. Lucky for the intern, they had a full two hours to converse before their next flight.

"So, this Twilight Town place is pretty small. Look, it looks like the sun is setting and it's just past _noon_. What's the deal with that? Are we in some kind of different time zone or is it something like the northern lights on some worlds? But why in the world would this place be stuck at sunset? I guess its name gives it away, huh? Twilight Town. Has a nice ring to it, I guess. I can't say I've ever heard of it before we came. It must not be too commercialized because I haven't gotten any calls from here. Did you ever know that this place was here?"

For the first time since Axel started rattling on, the blue, blue eyes looked up at him from his half-eaten turkey sandwich, "I used to live in Twilight Town."

That little rich punk had lived in such a laid back and retired beach world where the only jobs available looked like they barely got minimum wage? Perfectly trimmed red eyebrows shot up, "You? Here? When was that?"

Those eyes were adverted once more, "Once upon a time. It's changed a bit since then, but not too much from what I can tell."

"Interesting. You know of any places that would be interesting to go to while we wait for our flight?" Hey, why the hell not? It wasn't like their jobs forbade them from having a little bit of fun while they were technically on the job. It was just in the _office_ that they couldn't giggle or laugh or pull pranks or-

"Do you really want to go through security again? Because I really don't feel like going through all that again." Oh, shot down. "But I've got cards. We could play a few games with those."

And that's exactly what they ended up doing for the remaining time. Axel whooped that little blond's ass at Crazy Eights while they both had their ups and downs with Gin and War. They played a rather pointless game of Bullshit, seeing that the deck was split evenly between them. They did get a few disapproving glances from a few mothers as they played, though, seeing as they both appeared to be cursing the other out. It was all in fun and it did pass the time well enough.

Soon after they completed yet another game of Go Fish, the intercom buzzed through with a droning, "_Flight number 172 to Hollow Bastion now boarding_." At precisely that moment, or just another after that, Roxas clammed up and refused to give more than one word replies to Axel's continued commentary. Not that the redhead noticed any.

They both piled onto the waiting gummi – as if _it_ had been waiting all that time for _them_ to arrive – with all of the rest of the sulking and gray passengers.

Three hours later, they found themselves in an entirely new world. Skyscrapers towered above them in the new evening, the streets bustling with people of all worlds – minus the purely animal and fish populated ones. In the distance there stood a grand castle, glowing with lights that moved, making the shadows look almost like creatures boiling over the stone surface.

--

**End Notes: **Heee the next scene will be fun to write. Or well… more like just the entirety of the next chapter. Can you say "Cheesy get-to-know-you games"? Well, you'd better.

Review, my lovelies! You've been so wonderful at it, so keep it up! I need the moral boost right now. Like, seriously. I've been in such a slump TTTT


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note:** Oh my gosh! The website for 358/2 Days is UP and it is seriously EPIC. The Org!Roxas wallpaper is on my desktop right now. Oh! Don't forget to crank up your speakers, because the website comes with its own soundtrack. Did I say epic? I meant FUCKING FANTASTICALLY EPIC!! So go check it out. Then read the translation over at khinsider (dot) com. The Axel character description makes me squirm with JOY! So you can thank that website for this chapter, because I was feeling like an epic phail earlier today. So, enjoy mah peeps!

**Other Junk:** Yeah, still talking. I KNOW that I promised that you would get your cheesy get-to-know-your-roommate-game this chapter, but the two of them wouldn't stop bitching at each other. Thus, it will (hopefully) be in the next chapter. Seriously, I have no control over these guys.

-- --

Chapter 7

--

They lugged their stuff out of the taxi that they had both flagged down outside of the airport. Twilight hung in the air amongst the neon lights and shops that lined the bustling street. Axel stared, rather disinterested in the surroundings compared to Roxas, whose nose had been glued to the window of the cab for the entirety of the trip to the hotel. They shuffled their way into the rather higher class hotel. It was one of those places that had a fucking huge floral arrangement around every corner.

Currently, Axel was having a hard time staying awake where he stood. He didn't blame himself for feeling tired after getting as little of sleep as he had gotten the night before. But then again, he _could_ blame himself for his habit of staying up late. Hey, it was Ciddy-widdy's fault for planning their flight so early in the morning. That's right, blame it on the boss dude because he wasn't _there_. Brilliant plan.

The redhead made his way to the front desk, leaving a rather peeved looking blond behind with all of his stuff. Now, that was a task and a half, just getting through the crowd of bitchy people and their luggage. After pissing more than a few people off when he had to resort to elbowing his way through, Axel found his destination. He was met by a rather bored looking oldish guy with a cheesy smile plastered permanently onto his face.

"Hello, and welcome to the Bailey Hotel." Obviously memorized beyond the point of no return. "Are you here for the conference?" Did Axel _look_ like he was a business man? Apparently he did.

The redhead kept a neutral expression. "Yup. The rooms are under Highwind. That's Cid Highwind – H-I-G-H-" His spelling was cut off by the receptionist, who already had the screen up. Damn those fast typers.

"Mister Highwind. One single room, is that right?" Disinterested eyes were turned back to the screen and the fingers were flying once more on the keyboard. A card was flipped at Axel before he could actually register what exactly had come out of his mouth. Hey, he was fucking _tired_.

He took the card and stared at it. "One? There should be two rooms." Now the guy behind the desk looked like _he_ was getting peeved by having _his_ time wasted. Hey, they were both on the clock and Axel was keen on spending a hell of a lot of it sleeping as soon as he could.

A few more clicks, then, "There is only one room listed under Mister Cid Highwind."

Axel ran an agitated hand through his wild spikes. "Well, can we get a rollaway bed thing?"

The bored eyes never left the screen, the faulty smile long gone. "We do not offer that service, sir."

Well, shit. "And you're completely booked, aren't you?" The company wasn't _that_ small, after all.

All Axel's hopes were dashed to the wall, as he quite expected them to be. "I could send some extra blankets up to your room, sir."

Green eyes were rolled and Axel let out a low growl. "You do that."

After relaying some seemingly unimportant information, the only little snipit Axel cared to remember being the pool hours, the guy finally concluded his little speech. "Enjoy your stay with us at the Bailey Hotel." The only standing ovation that the redhead wanted to give him was a single middle finger. Honestly, Axel couldn't care less to thank the guy before storming off, now looking just as peeved as the blond who was _ever_ so patiently waiting for his return. He hoisted his bags and lugged them out of the crowd, not even caring when people started to get pissed at him as he shoved his way through. Roxas wordlessly followed.

--

_Dark creatures with glowing yellow eyes boiled around them, claws like dull knives held at the ready, twitching slightly before they leapt at one of the two nobodies. The Flurry of Dancing Flames twirled his chakrams with grace, slicing cleanly through the shadows of the night with ease. A brief window opened up for slight distraction and Axel took that opportunity to observe the other nobody's battle tactics. From what he saw, it was more the lack of said skills that he saw. Two keyblades worked against the other, Roxas bludgeoning the heartless ruthlessly and inefficiently._

_Axel turned back to his own enemies, releasing one of his weapons, which spun out in an arc, killing the monsters in its wake, before it returned to its owner's outstretched gloved hand. Green eyes flickered back to the blond. "Hey _Key_, try smoother movements."_

_Furious blue eyes turned on him, an equally fierce snarl adorning his lips._

_Axel rolled his eyes and twisted, slicing through two neo shadows at once, simultaneously moving closer to the blond. "Move with your weapons; don't fight against them."_

_Roxas ignored the redhead nobody and continued smashing his keyblades into the black creatures' heads. Axel watched him a moment as the blond slowed his movements, heavy breaths filling the silence between the hisses of the shadow's return to the night. The creatures were backing off, whichever ones were left with their black flesh intact._

_Axel rolled his shoulder back, straightening from his battle stance as the danger abated, "It'll take less energy, too."_

_Roxas turned away from the other nobody and took both of the blades and crashed both of them down on one of the heartless that had dared remain. The glowing crystal-like heart rose tauntingly close until it was consumed in the sky. He sucked in a few breaths and straightened as Axel had done, his voice like acid, "You want me to dance when I'm killing these things?"_

_The gash in Axel's side continued to throb under the tight wrappings that Demyx had administered, "Better them than me." His tone was malicious and dark and a wicked grin split across his tattooed cheeks, as he weaved his body tauntingly, "It's all in the hips, Roxie." _

_There was a blinding flash of light and Roxas moved with a blurring speed, a keyblade clattering to the cold ground as the blond launched forward, favoring a double-handed grip on a single blade for more force. Sparks lit the night as Axel thwarted the Key of Destiny's bone-jarring stroke with a chackram. He whipped around and held the point of his second weapon to the blond's side, exactly the spot where a familiar keyblade had marred his own. His voice dripped with venom as the spike dug into Number XIII's coat. "Want me to give you a matching scar?"_

_Roxas growled and dislodged his key from the chackram. "Fuck off." He turned away, coat splaying out behind him as he strutted away, slicing through a stray shadow, making his way towards his second keyblade lying not too far off. Axel shrouded himself in darkness and appeared just beside the lone key resting on the cracked black pavement. Roxas' eyes widened as the wisps of blackness mingled with flames joined the night air._

_Axel bent down and retrieved Oathkeeper. He hefted the key and gave a single mirthless bark of laughter. "Why are they different from each other? You'd think that they would match or something."_

_Roxas snarled in return, "Fuck if I know."_

_The keyblade was tossed back to the bearer, who caught it clumsily. A dark mass moved in the shadows behind Roxas, its glowing eyes lusting for flesh._

_Green eyes flashed, "Hey Roxas, don't move." Blue rounded on him as a chackram was thrown through the air, breezing past Roxas' wild locks. The nobody let out a cry of surprise and leapt away from the whirling weapon. Metal bit through shadow and arced back to the thrower, except Roxas was then in its predetermined path. Axel let out a curse and surrounded himself with darkness, appearing just beside the blond, catching the chackram a split moment before it would have buried itself into Number XIII's skull._

_Wide blue eyes met narrowed green, the redhead's voice deep and threatening, "I told you not to move. That's your problem, kid. You don't listen. That's the number one rule in the Organization: you follow orders. You don't listen, and you are killed., whether it's by a heartless or one of us."_

_Roxas twisted to glare at the Flurry of Dancing Flames, a snarl on his lips. "Go to Hell, VIII."_

_Axel scoffed at that, slowly beginning to circle the blond. "No doubt I already am."_

_Number XIII followed his every movement warily. "You'd feel at home there, though."_

_Axel growled, a smirk adorning his face. "You won't." He snapped his fingers and a circle of flames engulfed the blond, singeing the hem of his coat. The redhead continued, the flames standing between them. "That is assuming we even _have_ an afterlife."_

_The Key of Destiny choked with the heat of the flames. "Why did I overpower you before, but now I can't even-"_

_Number VIII cut him off sharply, "One, you attacked me from behind. Two," the flames disappeared and a deadly point of his weapon was held to Roxas' throat, "you were overusing your element." Axel stopped his circling and he stood face to face with the blond, the chackram filling the space between them. "And three, I can't use fire in the castle, because then there wouldn't _be_ a castle." Fuck like he was going to admit to him that the blond had a more powerful element than him._

_Roxas growled, a keyblade swinging up at full force and smacking the other nobody's weapon away from his neck._

_Axel easily kept a hold of his weapon and took a casual step back, twirling his chakrams lazily. He continued in a serious yet condescending tone. "You can't use your powers at that magnitude all the time or you will exhaust yourself before the battle has even begun. Your movements are sloppy and unplanned. You need to learn how to use those things that you are thrashing about _properly_."_

_Roxas gave the pyrokinetic nobody an icy glare. "And why the fuck are you telling me all this?"_

_Axel scoffed in return, "The Superior obviously wanted me to do _something_ on this_ _training mission and now that the heartless have been taken care of, we can start."_

_The blond adverted his gaze and spat out, "Fine."_

"_Okay, attack me." Roxas hitched his keyblades and prepared to leap into action, ready to beat the crap out of the guy like he had before, but stopped when his opponent held out a weapon to stop him. "Without attributes. Means you can't use light and I won't use fire. You'd better have that fucking memorized."_

_Roxas let out a frustrated sigh and prepared himself once more. "Fine, let's get this over with." Metal met with metal, black coats billowing out into the night as they spun their deadly dance._

--

Axel rubbed his forehead with his palm as the elevator hummed beneath the pair's feet. Why did Hollow Bastion seem so familiar? But he was remembering it in ruins with living shadows boiling in the night… He shoved the thought from his mind in favor of being pissed off at the world in general. Well, worlds, if he wanted to be politically correct. Fuck.

He glared at the key in his hand as if it were the cause of all his trouble. Well, it was the cause of some to be sure. "Leave it to fucking Cid to be cheap. He's only sending us here because the corporation forced him and everyone else to send two employees. So, who does he send? The throwaway executive assistant and the bloody _intern_."

Roxas pinched the bridge of his nose. "Do you have to bitch so loudly? I've had a headache ever since the plane left the ground."

Axel's chest gave a guilty jolt and he didn't exactly know why he would feel even an ounce of compassion for a freaking coworker. "Altitudes give you headaches?" That just seemed… wrong. Somehow, Axel couldn't make him out to be someone who would be even slightly daunted by heights.

The intern snorted at that, "No, your face does."

Axel chuckled a bit at that. "No wonder you avoid me at work."

"I don't _avoid_ you." Oh, now he was back to looking miffed. Now, _that_ expression was Polaroid worthy.

Green eyes were rolled. "Sure." The elevator door slid open and Axel stepped out, looking at the room number for the first time. "813," he mused, "We're on the eighth floor?"

A blond eyebrow was arched. "Isn't that the button you pressed?"

Axel let out a distressed groan, "I thought that salty guy said it was floor ten." The key was snatched from his hand and looked over by intense blue eyes. They turned back up at him after a moment.

"How the hell did you turn eight into ten?"

"By adding two," the redhead mumbled in defeat, trudging his way, with all of his baggage, back into the deathtrap on a cable. Roxas followed without further comment and they went down two floors in silence. When the doors opened a second time, the blond took charge and found their room at the very end of the hallway. He opened the door to lucky number fucking thirteen and pressed in, Axel following in his shuffling wake. The intern dumped his bag beside the single queen sized bed and did a prompt face plant into said furniture before letting out a muffled sigh of exhaustion.

Axel blinked. Did he really know just how vulnerably molestable he looked right then? He shook himself out of his little fantasy world and strutted on past to the not-so-comfy chair. "Go on, take the bed. Be my guest." Not acrimonious in the _least_. He dumped his bags beside the chair and then threw himself down on the cushion. He leaned on his elbow and rubbed his temple with his hand. He almost didn't catch the still peeved mumbling that came from the face-planted blond.

He let out a tired sigh, much akin to the one that Roxas had let out not a few moments before. "What was that?" He inquired as to what the hell that muffled mumble had been. It was repeated, same tone, same degree of incomprehensibleness. Damn, he was tired. He lifted his gaze to the blond. "Sorry Rox, I still can't hear you."

Roxas let out a groan into the mattress and shoved himself up, honing in and unzipping his luggage bag. He emerged after a moment with – surprise, surprise – a matching black and white checkered bag. That was when he noticed Axel following his every move. He flashed the redhead a withering look, "You got anything better to do?"

Axel shrugged in response. "Not at the moment, no. But I'm thinking about room service for dinner." He snatched up the menu that had been sitting on the tacky desk and gave it a once-over.

The blond disappeared into the bathroom, Axel heard the distinct sound of running water, a few moments passed, and the blond emerged, now without the bag. Green eyes instantly flicked up to him from where they hadn't been reading the menu. They sunk into blue and they were in complete silence for an entire moment, the only sound between them the thundering of their hearts.

That seemingly insignificant connection was broken by a deafening knock at the door, followed by a muffled, "Room service." Roxas turned away instantly and wrenched open the door, muttering his thanks, and closing it a split second later. Suddenly Axel had a face full of beige blankets and a not-so-fluffy pillow.

The bedding was torn away from a slightly suffocating redhead, followed by an explosion that he didn't think he had the energy for. "What the hell? I am _not_ sleeping on the floor for the entire trip." Roxas had gone back to digging through his fancy bag.

He sounded rather disinterested, "We'll trade off, dumbass."

Axel refused to give in. "But we're here for five nights, smart one."

Roxas let out a frustrated sigh, "Then we'll _both_ sleep on the floor for one of those nights. So stop your bitching." Blue eyes were flashed in the redhead's direction. "Are you going to order dinner or what?"

Axel simply glared back, noting that the menu was buried under the pile of bedding currently residing on his lap. "No, I'm going to fall the fuck asleep right here, right _now_ while you starve to death all night long." He was proud of the amount of sarcasm lacing his words. Roxas quirked an eyebrow at him. Damn, he knew that Axel was just as if not more hungry than he was. Axel rolled his eyes and dug around for the laminated menu. "Yeah, what'll you have?"

--

**End Notes: **I really had to debate whether I should give Roxas just one or both of his keyblades. Because Axel is kinda surprised to see him wielding two of them when they fight in the basement of the mansion. But then again, he has both of them when he fights Riku. So I just made it simple by giving him both and calling it a day. It's harder to learn how to use both of them at once, so it'll make his training difficult. And I was SO right about Axel training Roxas in 358/2. That made my day, because it still fits with this thing! Gah, I need to get a DS.

Um. End blurb about random nothings. I need EGO boosters, like NAO! …Please? OH and my new oneshot Two Years needs some lurve. And to all you peeps who want to know what snorgles are, it's what you want to do when you are presented to the plump furry belly of a kitten. Just kinda stuff your nose in and snort around for a bit… without sounding like a pig. 'Tis a snorgle. Snort-cuddle hybrid thing. It's from CuteOverload (dot) com.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: **Whew! Took a bit longer for this chapter to work itself out than I had expected. Sorry about that! Well, there was a bit of a delay because I went on a four day road trip with a few of my friends. Then writer's block decided to kick my ass a little bit. But I worked through! You may touch my hand.

-- --

Chapter 8

--

They spent a good twenty minutes with their eyes glued to the 'tube' as Axel put it. Some musical having to do with a girl and how she became a stripper. The redhead was rather put off by the singing, though. It wasn't every day that you watched a musical with a not so wonderful lead singer. Well, Axel wasn't really that pleased that there wasn't much decent candy for his eyes to feast on, but that was his loss.

"It's amazing how she can take off her gloves like that and look totally not sexual while doing it. If she could actually dance, it might help." Axel drawled out, slouching in the not-so-comfy chair that he had spun around in order to see the television screen. Roxas gave a brief grunt in affirmation, leaning against the foot of the bed and looking almost like a rag doll, with limbs all splayed out across the carpet. Axel actually felt a pang of pity for the blond; he looked completely exhausted.

They went on watching the movie, sat through the other strippers' songs while grinding their teeth at the horrid singing, and trying not to fall asleep. Finally, there was a knock on the door and Roxas practically flew to go and open it. They spent the next ten minutes stuffing their faces with their dinner, drab singing in the background mostly forgotten in favor of filling their monstrously hungry stomachs.

--

_Axel staggered back and leaned heavily against a large stone pillar, mountains of gold surrounding him. He drew haggard breaths, both from exhaustion and trying his best to stifle his pain from multiple gashes strewn about his body. He threw himself to the side as a giant black pincer hurled his way, all too capable of crushing him in two. The scorpion-shaped heartless spun on him as he scrambled up from the sandy floor in a futile attempt to escape. Jewels dug into his palms as he forced himself up, eyes honing in on his chackarams, laying on the other side of the treasure room where the creature had knocked them previously._

_That slight distraction gave the heartless scorpion a window of opportunity. Quite suddenly, a dark claw bludgeoned the redhead, whose sight blacked out as he was hurled across the chamber. He landed on his shoulder heavily and rolled to come crashing into yet another pillar. The thing let out a sickening clacking as its pincers opened and closed, hungry to taste some nobody flesh. Axel shoved himself up, pure adrenaline helping to keep the agonizing pain at bay. A solid wall of fire was drawn up between the creature and the Flurry of Dancing Flames._

_It let out a shriek and Axel took the momentary advantage to gain his bearings and retrieve his weapons. The circular blades were thrown through the wall of inferno and, by the sound of the heartless, they hit their target. The redhead didn't allow the flames to die down until he saw the swirl of darkness and the heart that floated out of the scorpion. He dismissed his weapons and the fire whispered into nonexistence._

_Axel staggered into the next chamber, using the wall as support to keep his abused body from collapsing. The circular chamber gave way to a keyhole-shaped structure in the far wall. He let out a heavy, shaking sigh. Well, he hadn't quite expected the mission to be this… fucking downright difficult to do. That was saying the least._

_Drawing the last of his strength, Axel opened a dark portal before him and stepped into the stifling and freezing blackness._

_When he emerged, he was yet again in darkness, brightened only by the glow of the heart-shaped moon. His knees gave way under him and there was a blinding flash of light. Small but surprisingly strong arms wrapped around him and helped to support his weight. Interesting – Axel had been sure that he had created a portal to his own chambers, not Number XIII's. But with a dazed and blurry glance about the room made it clear that it did, in fact, house the blond._

_Axel drew his arm about the other nobody's shoulders. "Roxas," he whispered his name as if in thanks._

_The frantic voice flowing from the blond was unfitting of the otherwise silent and dark room. "Axel, you've been gone for_ days._ What the hell did you _do_ to yourself?"_

_The redhead would have smirked if it weren't for a certain thing called excruciating pain. "It wasn't_ me_; it was a huge scorpion thing in Agrabah. You know, the desert-y place where I was sent on the mission. Nasty heartless, it was. Now I know why I hate bugs and why they need to be burned." Roxas led him across the wide room to the corner sectioned off to be his library and sat him in the chair there. Axel welcomed the chance to rest his straining muscles as he practically melted into the cushion. His hand caught Roxas' wrist as the blond started to walk away._

_Cerulean met emerald. "Roxas, I need you to get Demyx."_

_Number XIII's expression remained closed, but he made no movement to break the hold that the redhead on him. "Why didn't you get me to help you?"_

_Axel sighed, "The Superior sent me on the mission alone. And, like I said, you follow orders around here, or you are killed."_

_Roxas scowled. "Yeah, that sounds great. Risk your life just to prove that you can do a mission without me and please our boss. Fuck the Superior and fuck these missions."_

"_Don't say that," Axel hissed dangerously and his grip tightened about the thin wrist. "Don't _ever_ say that, and you'd better commit that to memory."_

_Now the blond was angry. "Why? Why shouldn't I be able to speak my mind? You look like you were almost killed, all because you were following orders."_

"_Maybe he thought I was getting soft, going around and doing all of the easy crap with you to train you and shit. And you know what? Maybe he's right. But you can be such a pain in the ass that I don't see how it is possible to get soft around your fucking little bitchy self." The wrist was released and the hand that had held it captive was pressed to Axel's side. He needed to be bandaged and soon. "Go get Demyx, I need to get these cuts under control."_

"_Cuts?" Roxas spat. "You look more like minced meat. And IX was sent away with VI to someplace with a castle of some sort. So you're stuck with bitchy little me."_

_Axel could feel himself slipping away. If he allowed himself to fall unconscious and if he didn't stop the bleeding from his multiple gashes, there was a large chance that he wouldn't make it to the morning. That stirred something within the redhead – fear. Roxas didn't seem to take notice in the severity of Axel's condition._

"_Roxas," he hated how pleading and weak his voice was, "please, just help me. Do you know where Demyx's emergency bandage kit is?" Blue eyes widened, realizing that the redhead wasn't just blowing steam and that he really was in danger. He gave a swift nod and was gone in the next moment, wisps of darkness taking his place. Axel collected a breath before setting to work with stripping his torn coat off over the lesions adorning his overly pale skin._

--

A dull ache erupted in Axel's side. But it was more like a… memory. He pressed a hand to the pain and made a soft noise of thought.

"You okay?" The redhead glanced up to where the intern sat, head swiveled in his direction, those icy cold eyes with a hint of compassion staring up at him. So much emotion played across those cerulean orbs when they rightfully should remain blank. But _why_? He felt they should be friends. He felt that they should know each other. But what was this feeling thing about? His chest was supposed to be empty? But there was a steady rhythm beating within him.

Axel shook his head. "I'm fine." He was tired and he was hallucinating. He was letting his crazy dreams take over his overly active imagination. And he just got a cramp in his side from traveling all day long. Suddenly, that hot tub that the bitchy receptionist had mentioned seemed rather appealing. Nothing like getting all hot, steamy and wet to get his mind cleared up.

He set his empty plate aside and pulled one of his bags into his lap and began the long and laborious task of finding his swim trunks. When he had retrieved them, he stepped over the sprawled limbs of the intern, lazy blue eyes following his every movement, and disappeared into the bathroom.

He emerged, clad in his green flame swimwear. Lazy blue eyes swiveled on him, crowned by arching blond brows.

"Where are _you_ going?" Roxas asked after a beat had passed.

Axel scoffed, tossing a fluffy white towel over his shoulder. "To the pool, obviously. Might as well exploit this four star hotel since we were deprived of comfortable sleeping."

A hint of upturned lips flashed across the intern's face. "You mean _you_ were."

Emerald eyes were rolled. "Gloat all you want, Roxas, you're getting the floor tomorrow." He snatched up one of the cardkeys from where the blond had set them when they had first entered the room. "You can catch up if you want. Not that I'm expecting anything." Was it just him, or were those blue eyes wandering a bit? Axel stifled a smirk and swayed his hips to the side before turning towards the door and shutting it behind him.

After a quick elevator trip and a slight misreading of the signs, Axel found himself at the pool. Not too much after he had tracked down the hot tub, he was slipping in, allowing the burning water to soak into his flesh. He didn't know how long he sat there, watching the steam rise into the roof of the little gazebo. He felt the knots in his neck and shoulders from the stress of traveling loosen and the disarrayed thoughts passed from his mind.

He was snapped from his repose when light footsteps echoed across the stone tile. Green eyes rolled down towards the sound and met a rather lost looking blond, a white shirt pulled over rather stylish blue trunks. Sheesh, was everything that kid had checkered? Apparently it was. At least he had taken off his wrist band. That would have _so_ clashed.

Their gazes met - red trimmed eyebrows arched and the intern scowled in return. He promptly sat on one of the many white plastic pool chairs with his back to the redhead. Oh, stubborn, was he? Well, there was only one way to get an unmoving mule to move and that was to go up and kick it in the ass.

Quick as the redhead could in his relaxed state, he slipped out of the hot water and stepped over to where the little blond was sitting. And damn was he doing a good job of ignoring Axel, staring intently at his twiddling fingers. He jumped slightly when the redhead spoke.

"You coming in, or what?" He got a sizeable scowl in return and a scrutinizing eye.

"You're steaming," Roxas stated blandly. He caught himself a moment too late. "Shit, don't even-"

But Axel wasn't about to let his little comment to unnoticed. He slapped his signature smirk on his face and placed a fist on his hip, swaying it just slightly as he did before. "So, you have noticed my god-like bod, have you, babe?"

Roxas snarled up at him, "Don't you dare call me babe." He abruptly turned away and focused his attention once more on his hands.

"How about sugar pumpkin?" Axel knew he was trying his luck, but hey, why the hell not?

The response was closed. "Not speaking."

Well, the blond hadn't kicked him in the balls and stormed off quite yet, so Axel felt it okay to continue on. "Aw. Maybe a soaking in the hot tub will melt that cold shoulder."

Roxas snorted, "Or not."

Axel wasn't convinced. "Then why did you wear your suit?" And why did he come down in the first place?

Incredulous cerulean eyes rounded on him. "You think I would risk wearing dry clothes with a pool and you in the general vicinity?" Wow, did he catch on quick.

The redhead slapped on a phony hurt expression. "You really think I would be that cruel?"

Roxas simply stared back. "Yes."

Axel let out a single bark of laughter. "Burn. Well, I guess you've caught me. Now come on, get your ass in the hot tub. It does wonders for bad tempers."

"I'm not in a bad temper," Roxas protested weakly.

Axel rolled his eyes. "Mhm. Yeah, sure." He cut all reserves and grabbed Roxas' arm and hauled him up, surprised when he didn't show the slightest resistance. He shoved the thought away and went along with it, steering the blond towards the hot tub.

Soon, they were seated on opposite sides of the round pool, the water roiling about them. Axel snuck a glance at the blond and had to hold back a chuckle from his expression. He seemed to be wondering what the hell he had gotten himself into, and was most likely scrounging for excuses to return to the room. Axel rested his elbows along the rim of the tub, fingers playing across the oscillating surface of the water.

"So," he broke the silence, "how about we play a little game?"

Roxas looked across the hazy space between them skeptically and asked cautiously, "What kind of game?"

Axel shrugged nonchalantly. "You know, a little get-to-know-your-roommate kind of thing. But I guess it'd be know your coworker in this case."

A blond brow was raised and he replied slowly. "Sure. How do you play?"

The redhead flashed a grin. Well, this was turning out damn perfectly. "It's called Truths, made by yours truly. We take turns saying true statements about ourselves, but we can't question or comment on each other's statements."

Roxas scoffed, "This sounds like some chick-flick game that girls squeal over."

Axel flicked the surface of the water, a few droplets landing on Roxas' face judging by the way he flinched. "And what's the problem with that?"

The blond shook his head. "Whatever. You start."

He hummed in agreement. "Okay then. My first roller coaster experience was that wicked one on top of a building in Las Vegas." On one of his trips to Earth, that was.

"Dude, that's-"

"Hey, no commenting!" The blond shut up immediately. "Your turn."

Amazingly blue eyes were rolled. "Fine. I've never been on a roller coaster."

Well, this was about to go nowhere really fast. Axel decided to turn it in the right direction. "I've never met my dad."

Roxas snorted, eyes not focused on anything in particular. "My father forced me into this stupid internship."

Axel grinned. "I thought that I was signing up for a fashion design agency when I applied." He had Demyx to thank for that. But hey, it was a job with a steady income, who was he to complain?

The blond blinked at him. "No shit?"

"Commenting." Axel reminded him flippantly.

"Sorry." He scrounged for something to say. "I've never been inside a Victoria Secret."

Axel burst into laughter, earning a scowl from the blond. "I used to work at one." The more pout-like scowl was replaced with a sweet laugh. The mirth died down, and Axel motioned for Roxas to go on.

He thought for a moment. "I want to be a graphic designer but my father has higher expectations." His father again? Axel put the thought to the side and moved on.

"I've always wanted a tattoo on my hip that says 'These Don't Lie.'" Way to lighten the mood, huh? But hey, it was true, and it was as if that stupid Shakira song had been made for him.

Roxas snorted, "I've already got a tattoo." Damn, did Axel want to pop a question on that one, but he dolefully resisted.

"Me too," he replied simply, tracing two fingers along the dark red triangles on his cheeks. Roxas' expression was unreadable as he went on.

"I was once in a screwed up love triangle." He paused in thought. "Well, it was more of a cheating triangle, but whatever."

Axel deadpanned. What the fuck? "Woah, pause the game. _What_?"

"Hey, you can't do that! Commentary later, remember? It's your turn."

The game of Truths dwindled off then and the pair made it back up to their hotel room in silence.

--

**End Notes: **THERE!! You got your little get-to-know-you game. As unlikely as it seems, some of that stuff is kinda important. Until next time, my sweets! And, as always, I love hearing your feedback and whatnot.

OH!! Don't forget to check out my AkuRoku photo comic! The links to the pages are on my profile page. It's in celebration of getting my Roxas action figure 3


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note: **Woah. This chapter just kind of flew onto the page. Even though it's a bit shorter… but oh well. It's PACKED with all sorts of goodies. -Evil author laugh-

-- --

Chapter 9

--

"Not talking."

Axel let out a frustrated huff from where he sat on the floor, the beige blankets on his lap. Roxas wasn't giving in too easily, but he just had to _know_, damn it. The blond had his arms crossed stubbornly as he sat against the tacky headboard, lips sealed to what Axel was trying to pry out of him.

"Oh come on. You can't leave me hanging like that." The redhead pressed. "That's the whole point of the game – to actually get to _know_ your coworker, roommate, whoever."

Roxas scowled down at him. "It's not entirely appropriate for me to tell to a freaking coworker."

Emerald eyes glinted. "How about a friend? Or just an acquaintance?" He amended. Fuck, he would settle for anything to get the guy to speak.

"More like nemesis," Roxas muttered under his breath. But then Axel broke through his defenses. "Fine, but I get to ask you something when I'm done. Provided you're still awake." The redhead would have leapt up and cried out in triumph, but that would have been a bit too suspicious. Why was he so God damned interested in this little intern? Like hell he knew. It was that little nagging in the back of his brain that wouldn't leave him alone until he found out more.

"Deal, now talk." Axel stared at him intently and he could already tell that the blond was regretting his agreement. Oh boy, this was going to be interesting. Break out the popcorn and have the tissue box at the ready.

Roxas furrowed his brow at the redhead's intense stare and shifted uncomfortably. Axel had to give him some kind of sympathy – it wasn't every day that he himself told someone he barely met about his own sex scandals. Hell, he didn't even know exactly why this was so damned fascinating to him.

"Well…" The blond faltered and started again in earnest. "Sora and I kind of got together in our sophomore year of high school. I guess I thought that we completed each other or something." Here Roxas shook his head with a bitter smile. "He was always the one goofing off and getting into trouble while I did all the work and took the blame for his mischievous games."

Axel smirked up at him. "You were each other's firsts, weren't you?"

The intern fell silent at that, drawing his legs up and hugging his knees to his chest. He looked so crestfallen and broken. He was empty and… ashamed. Ashamed of what? Axel burned to ask his questions, but kept them at bay as best he could. It wasn't like he didn't have plenty more lurking around in his head, ready to be the little brain ninjas they were and strike out without warning.

He continued on, "We were so similar that it was almost scary. People always mistook us for twins. It was kind of creepy when they did that."

"Incest doesn't do much for you?" The redhead threw in, but flinched back at the death glare he received from the blond. "Sorry, shutting up."

He rolled his eyes in a 'yeah, you'd better' kind of way. "So that's when I met Riku." Here Roxas paused, caught in his own thoughts. "We kind of had a thing."

"An affair," Axel supplied, and the blond nodded solemnly.

Roxas gave a soft, bitter laugh before he continued, "I didn't tell either of them, but they ended up telling _me_."

A trimmed red eyebrow was raised. "What do you mean?"

"Riku was enjoying the benefit of having two almost identical guys to bang. He gave up on me when I expressed some doubts and ran away with Sora."

Oh, that wasn't a very pleasant thing to have happen at all. "Ouch," Axel said simply, wincing in sympathy. Damn, and he didn't get a hot threesome out of the deal? How cheap was that?

Roxas flashed a melancholy smile. "Yeah, ouch." Blue eyes drifted over to Axel for the first time since the start of the telling. "So the guy I was cheating with was cheating on me with who I was cheating on. There's the screwed up love triangle for you."

Axel snorted mirthlessly. "So, where are the paopus now?"

Blue steeled. "Honestly, I don't give a damn." That seemed to be Roxas' motto for a lot of things, Axel observed.

Sora… had he heard that name before? It certainly wasn't that common of a name. Neither was Riku, but that name brought about a spark of anger deep in his chest. And it wasn't all because of the love triangle that Roxas had been lamenting over.

"So when exactly did they leave you to go and elope?" Axel asked, just to keep his mind distracted from his thoughts.

"Elope," Roxas scoffed. "I'm not sure that Riku is capable of that kind of commitment. God, I don't even know how long it's been. A year?"

Axel hummed without comment. He allowed the topic to drop and moved on to the promise that he had made. "So what was it that you wanted to ask me?"

A few beats passed. "Not much, but- I'll just ask." The redhead motioned for Roxas to go on. "Do- do you believe in past lives?"

--

_His breathing was labored, chackarams hanging from his limp arms. He hadn't been able to do it. He couldn't kill him. But it did seem as though that the memory of his training had returned. Good for him, bad for Number VIII. He had trained him a bit too much and he was too good. If only Roxas could remember the rest…_

_Darkness gathered below his staggering feet. "Let's meet again, in the next life."_

"_Yeah, I'll be waiting."_

I'll be waiting.

--

Axel froze at the question. Wasn't that- Didn't- Why did he ask that, of all questions? It should have been laughable, but Roxas' face showed no signs of a smile. The redhead wasn't feeling too mirthful either.

Imagination? Or memory?

Fuck. "People just make up that shit to act all cool and psychic. It makes for one hell of a TV show, but it's a bunch of hodge podge." It was the answer that he would have given before he had met the blond.

Blue eyes fell and the already emotionless face turned to stone. "Right." Shit. He was playing a dating sim and he chose the worst possible response option.

"Roxas, I didn't mean-"

"Goodnight, Axel. Sorry if this made you… uncomfortable or anything." The intern reached over to turn off the lamp, never meeting the redhead's gaze. They were engulfed in darkness, but Axel refused to let the issue drop like that.

"Roxas, sometimes dreams can seem like they are real, but if you have dreams like mine, then you should know that they hardly make sense." He lowered his voice in the dark room.

The blond replied in a low voice, but it didn't dull the anger and disappointment that shined through. "Why, what do you dream about?"

Axel paused. _You_. "Having no heart." A beat passed in utter silence. "Which is definitely impossible, wouldn't you say? You can't really exist without one, right?" That was wrong. It was damned wrong and Axel didn't understand the fuck _why_.

Roxas muttered something under his breath and Axel questioned, "What was that?"

His voice was stronger when he spoke up, a note of finality in his tone. "Goodnight, Axel." Avoidance. The first sign of denial, right? But what did the blond know that he didn't?

The redhead let out a silent sigh. "Yeah, g'night." Maybe his dreams would give him solace. Maybe they would leave him be for once.

But as he let unconsciousness take him, he somehow new that they would return with a vengeance.

--

_It was a created world. Axel stared in fascination at the buildings surrounding him. They were downright real looking to him, down to the old glue left over from the multiple layers of struggle and job posters from the years that had never been. It was a perfect copy. It reminded the Flurry of Dancing Flames of the nobodies, except there was something strange about the people. They were made from real hearts – they had memories and feelings, even though they were part of the computer system. He turned bitter. Why couldn't the nobodies keep at least a shell of a heart from their previous somebodies? Shattered memories was all they got, and not even his best friend had received those._

_Memories of what a heart was like were not enough. Sometimes they were too much to bear. To know how wonderful something is but not be able to ever get it… torture. It infuriated him, this fake Twilight Town. It was too much like him. It was too heartless, and it kept prisoner the only one who filled his empty void. And if what the Superior had told him was true… his friend knew nothing except for this fake world. He remembered nothing of their partnership or of those nights where they fought off the loneliness and the emptiness within them._

_It was deserted. Axel strutted through the empty streets, black coat billowing out from behind him. Time was running out, and Roxas had to be retrieved. He wanted number XIII to be free once more and- and to be his once again. He couldn't be gone._

_Cheering… coming from the sandlot. So that was where they planted the dusk. Axel stopped just outside and watched the match from a distance. That strange heartless-looking thing was the dusk plant? He had to question the sanity of whoever put it there. It had probably been Number II. He glanced around at the crowd and noticed a man with an overly decorative cape draped about his shoulders and extremely out of place clothes. He had to scowl at that. Was DiZ trying to make a fool of him by putting in a silver-haired plus ample hair extensions version of himself and giving the clone a cocky and vain attitude? There was too much of a resemblance to not make that assumption._

_He turned his attention away from the imposter and watched as Vivi's opponent was pummeled until he surrendered. There was an announcement that sprang out, and a very familiar name was called out for the next match._

_That was when VIII saw him – in the same garb as when the Superior had found him and when Axel himself had convinced him to join the Organization. That had been before the blond had attacked him for- well, he couldn't even remember the cause. Probably because he had caused Roxas to drop his ice cream or he had said something stupid, as usual. The start of a beautiful friendship. Something… that they had made to be more than just ice cream and conversation._

_And there he was – blue foam bat in hand instead of a keyblade – facing off to a dusk in disguise, which he rightfully should be able to control. It was wrong. But it was necessary. Axel had to constantly remind himself of that. _

_The blond struck out at the dusk, looking much like how he used to fight before Axel's training, and was walloped a few times in return. Nothing the blond couldn't handle, for sure, but it was still painful for Axel to watch. This was what DiZ had reduced his best friend to – fighting in stupid little tournaments when he should be fighting to get a heart. It was a disappointment._

_The world froze. Just on time. Axel threw on his hood as the dusk threw off the Vivi disguise and leapt into attack, a few more joining it. The blond's weapon materialized and he looked… surprised to see it. The keyblade cut through the dusks clumsily. Why didn't he call out both of his weapons? Maybe he really _had_ forgotten._

_The redhead applauded his friend's victory as he walked onto the platform. Roxas gave him a look of pure confusion, noticing that there were no other hands clapping and that they were all dead to the world._

_If he had a heart, it would have sunk at the look he received from his best friend. "You really don't remember?" In response to the blond's questioning and distrustful glare, Axel threw back his hood. "It's me. You know, Axel." He should have already had it memorized by then._

"_Axel?" He seemed so meek when he said it, and it disgusted the redhead. Where had his best friend gone?_

"_Talk about Blank with a capitol 'B'." There had to be something to get the blond to remember. His chackarams materialized amidst a swirl of flames. Roxas asked what was going on… always the one to question, even when he had lost his memory. He needed more time, and that was the only thing that he didn't have in this created world. His orders were simple – bring the Key of Destiny back. Easy enough, right? He could slap some sense into him in the process._

_That was when the air about them vibrated. His location had been found and time had run out. Axel scowled. He was caught, and he had a stubborn blond on his hands who was not looking to come so easily. The keyblade was thrown down in defiance before it appeared back into its bearer's hand._

_He wasn't going down without a fight. If only he knew how typical that was of him to do. They leapt into battle, but Axel wasn't willing to take advantage over his best friend's lack of fighting knowledge. The battle ended quickly, and DiZ appeared, telling Roxas that Axel had been lying. Bullshit. He threw his weapons at the cloaked man, only to have them spring back without hitting their mark._

_The system took control, and the Flurry of Dancing flames began to disappear. "Roxas! Remember who your real friends are!" He cried out in a last-ditch effort to break through. But to no avail. His vision was blurring, his friend was leaving and remembered nothing of him… and he could do nothing to stop it._

--

"Roxas!" Axel woke up to his own voice screaming the name with a painful choke. His heart thundered in his breast painfully, hatred for someone and fear of loss pulsing though him. A sensory overload, just like usual. Except this time… he felt so fucking helpless that he felt like he could start sobbing at any moment. Cry baby Axel – never thought that those words would ever pop into his head.

A hushed voice caused him to freeze, holding his breath as he hung onto every word. "Go back to sleep, Axel. I'll be here in the morning."

How did…? But his thought never completed, for he fell back to a dreamless darkness.

000

Axel didn't bring up the topics of the previous night with Roxas. He was… confused. The blond in his dream hadn't remembered him, and he wanted more than anything for him to know everything. He felt so cheated. What did that blond have to do with anything? He was different from Roxas and yet – he was identical.

Memories.

The redhead was actually thankful for the various workshops that were presented to him throughout the first day of the conference. They kept him on his toes and kept his thoughts far in the back of his mind. He might have put a little bit too much energy into the little activities that they did and listened a bit too intently to the otherwise mind-numbing speakers. The information was nothing that he would ever be able to use, since all he did was answer the phones, but he sucked it all in anyway.

They didn't talk much that day. Actually, Axel didn't allow himself to talk to the blond that day. He didn't know what to make of his dreams or what Roxas had told him the night before. Nothing made _sense_.

Axel had to laugh to himself. And here he thought that this was just another boring business trip.

--

**End Notes: **I must subconsciously hate Riku or something. Seriously. So there you have it! The cheating triangle! More questions and a few answers (maybe)! On a little side note – I'm leaving for COLLEGE six days from now! GAH! I'm so freaked and excited! So that may mean a little delay for the next chapter, depending on how long it takes to get settled in and whatnot.

Oh, happy post-AkuRoku day! Go read my 8/13 oneshot – Meet Me at the Fair!!


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note: **Sorry about that wait! It felt too long to me, but I've been busy out of my mind. Starting college kinda does that to you. Anywho, slightly shorter chapter because that's just how it works with the layout of the plot and whatever (which I actually have a little bit of this time). Enjoy!

**Other Junk: **Hey, this is the first chapter written entirely on my new laptop! W00t!

-- --

Chapter 10

--

They were making lanyards. Fucking little beaded lanyards. Damn it, if Axel had wanted to do jewelry design, he would have signed up for the class at the college. No, this was an activity designed to help stimulate the 'creative mind' and to form 'good communication skills with those around you', since one end of the table had half of the materials and the other side had the other parts. The whole ordeal was conveniently, or not depending on how you looked at it, located in a little sunny park in the middle of the bustling city. Though, it mostly looked like an abandoned hobo park. Or one that had been recently vacated for the purpose of that very event. Everyone in this particular little workshop had ridden in a little bus especially reserved for them over to the park, or what was left of it.

Axel ended up making his lanyard red and black with a few silver beads thrown in there. It was fucking _cool_, unlike some of the other pocket-protector geeks. They wouldn't know fashion if someone shoved it up where the sun don't shine. He was having a grand old time, putting the beads on the wire and whatnot. The problem was that his eyes kept on wandering over to the table directly beside his own where the little blond intern was meticulously working on his own little chain of beads. His was a mix of red, green, yellow and blue beads. Hey, they went together pretty well, so Axel gave him the okay. He did want to go into graphic design, after all. It would help if he had at least _some_ creativity in his bones.

They did that for a good part of the afternoon before moving on to more leadership activities. Like where they had little labels on their backs and they had to get into a line in a certain order without talking. That one was actually pretty cool, but the rest of it made Axel think that they were just killing time.

The day's previous activities consisted of long seminars where no more than half of the people observing were actually asleep or listening to music. Entirely pointless, just like the rest of the damned conferences.

But, before he knew it, Axel was watching the sun lower in the sky and the meeting had come to a close. A slight chill had entered the air and, actually, Axel thanked the airport shuttle driver for giving him the tip to grab his coat that fine morning. He then thanked himself for actually listening to him and again thanked himself for bringing it with him to the stupid park.

Axel began to follow the group of pocket-protector boss kiss-ups back to their little bus when he noticed that they were missing a certain blond, who happened to be his roommate and coworker. Green eyes made a wide sweep of the park and finally fell on the little intern, sitting on a bench beside a recently lit lamppost.

The redhead's feet took him over to that little wooden and slightly splintering bench and he had to place a smirk on his face. "I told you that you were going to need that jacket." He saw the hint of a scowl in those down turned eyes, but the blond made no comment. He simply continued to stare into nothingness and toe the ground with the tip of his shoe. "So, what're you doing over here?"

"Thinking," Roxas replied simply before adding, "You can join if you want."

Axel sighed and almost collapsed on the wooden bench beside him, thankful for the chance to sit without getting crap pounded into his head. "Yeah, I need to do some of that myself." About _you_, was what he wanted to add.

Roxas just hummed affirmatively, hunching over and rubbing his temples with a hand, "What do you have to think about?" It wasn't a challenge – he simply just wanted to _know_.

Axel paused and scrounged a response. "They're just some questions that I have no idea how to answer."

"Maybe I can try." The blond sounded disinterested, but Axel could discern a spark of genuine interest behind those words.

He scoffed in return. "You'd think I was crazy. Hell, even I think I'm going off the deep end." And that was as true as the tattoos on his face.

Roxas responded softly, his tone cautious and low. "Maybe you're not." The pair fell to silence, each glancing up at the deep red sunset as it slowly faded into the darkness of night, bringing with it a fresh wave of bone-chilling cold.

Axel broke out of his reprise and timidly asked, "Why did you say that thing to me last night, when you said that you would be there in the morning?"

The blond shrugged and shook his head, not really looking at anything in particular. "I must've been sleep talking."

"Oh." Why did his heart sink? Why was he disappointed with that simple response? Was he really looking forward to a different answer?

As if to mock his pondering, the intern voiced his thoughts. "What other sorts of questions do you have?

Axel shook head in the same way that Roxas had before. "I don't think that they have answers. They aren't really worth mentioning." He shouldered his coat and tugged it snuggly against his neck. The cold really was reaching a piercing level.

Roxas gave a visible shiver and cupped his hands around his bare arms to try to fend off the evening chill. "That's fine. You don't have to tell me." But Axel felt like he _should_, he just _couldn't_. The intern began to shiver in earnest.

Axel took note of the blond's discomfort and released any sense of pride that he had stored up ever since he had victoriously outsmarted the blond with his choice of bringing a coat. He let out a sigh and unzipped his coat, letting a rush of the crisp air touch his chest. He gestured the blond over to him. "Roxas, c'mere. I don't feel like watching you freeze to death."

Roxas stubbornly turned away, clutching his arms tighter. "I really shouldn't."

Yeah, like he was going to listen to that. "Bullshit." Axel seized Roxas and pulled him to sit between his extended legs, surprised that he made no movements of resistance. The redhead took that as a good sign and quickly pulled the coat around the blond and zipped both of them in. Roxas' shirt was chilly from the night, but warm underneath as he pressed to Axel's warm and beating chest.

--

_The icy wind whipped past his black hooded head, the driving snow melting on tattooed cheeks as he trudged through the heavy drifts. He had to be there… Roxas had to be somewhere in this world. He wouldn't have just left like that, and he hadn't been on the clock tower where they were supposed to meet and neither was he in his living quarters in the castle. The sun had long since set in their own world that was never supposed to be, and it was a new evening in the Land of Dragons. But that did not make the wind softer or the snow less bone-chilling._

_It had been one of the first solo missions that the blond had been assigned to. Axel had had his own assignment to complete and he was already dead tired from it. Trudging through knee deep snow really hadn't been on his to-do list for that day, but the extremely pissed off mood that would normally come from that situation had been smothered by the worry for his best friend._

_The Flurry of Dancing Flames had never really visited the world before, so he was bound to the trail at his feet. It took him past a little snow-covered village and far up the mountain. _

_His breath was taken from him from the altitude and the wind that continued its continuous bludgeoning. Axel trudged on, thankful that there weren't any heartless to slaughter on his way. Not even those creatures dared those cliffs. But he had a different purpose. This was for _Roxas_._

_He pulled around the corner of a cliff and spotted the peak of the mountain. A dark smudge in the pure white but night-darkened snow made itself present to the redhead. He drove on with an increased vigor and grabbed at the dark material, only to find that the small black coat was long cold and empty of a certain blond._

"_Roxas!" The name pierced the wind and was lost to it. He called it until he could hear the echoes all around him. That was when he noticed a slight movement in the snow a little ways up the mountain. A snow-covered head bob up before slumping back down against that delicate looking chest…_

_No matter how much his muscles had complained to him on the trek up the mountain, Axel caught his second or third wind and made quick work of the remaining stretch between them. Black-clad knees fell to the dark white snow before the mostly bare-skinned blond, pulling the half-frozen nobody into his arms._

_He could feel the convulsive shivers and the chill of his skin through his coat. "Holy shit, Roxas, what are you doing?" The snow on the blond spikes melted against his warm cheeks._

_The response was made through blue lips, the voice thin and weak. He couldn't keep the stutter out of his words. "I w-wanted to s-see if it w-would m-make me feel. M-maybe it w-would give me answers or- or m-memories."_

"_Roxas, you idiot," Axel whispered, removing one protecting arm in favor of unzipping his coat to accommodate the Key of Destiny and zipping them both in. He willed the fire deep within him to touch his skin and warm the blond. He was so cold… "Freezing yourself to death won't give you answers." The Flurry of Dancing Flames' tone was dark._

_Number XIII turned on him, his last scraps of strength used in sounding ticked off. "Then w-what will?"_

_Axel sighed and pulled the blond closer to his chest, closer to that hollow chamber that only contained his inner flame. "I don't know. Now, let's get you back to the castle before you turn into a popsicle."_

"_Can it be sea salt?" Came the muttered plea._

_He was delusional. That was a pretty fucking bad sign. _

"_If you ever want to feel again, you're coming with me." Axel was surprised when the blond made no resistance when he picked him up, cradling him with the utmost care. He was so light and… fragile. Darkness surrounded them and they were launched into motion, making their way out of the snow and storm and into a place just as cold and heartless._

--

"Roxas, do you dream very often?" The warmth seeping through his shirt felt familiar all of a sudden, like a long lost glove that had been used for many a year.

The blond paused a moment before responding. "Not as much as I used to."

Axel was feeling brave, for some odd reason and voiced yet another question. "You ever think they might mean something?"

"Eventually, they might. I don't know," he finished quickly, squirming slightly where he sat. Axel _did_ have that effect on people – to make them nervous and fidgety. Usually it was just because of his hair and facial tattoos, but those didn't seem to phase the blond. At least on the outside, it didn't. "I-I kind of feel like going back to the hotel now."

Axel sighed internally. Damn, he was having a nice time just talking with the intern, especially since the redhead could actually drop little questions on him. It felt good just to get them out. "Yeah, we probably should." He unzipped his coat, not without regret as the icy wind caught the blond once more as he pried himself free. He stood awkwardly to the side, eyes determinedly adverted as Axel stood to join him, closing his coat back up. They started to walk towards the street, determining that they did, in fact, miss the bus back to the hotel.

The monster eating away at Axel's stomach would not be ignored any longer, and he figured that the blond was in no better a condition. "You want to get something to eat?

Roxas had stuffed his hands into his pockets to better fend off the chill. "Like sit down with tablecloths, the hotel, or just room service?"

Axel shrugged as he strolled nonchalantly down the park pathway beside the intern. "I was thinking tablecloths, unless you're too tired."

The blond snorted, sounding as though he were fending off a shiver to his voice. "I think I'll be fine. It's not very business-like to fall asleep over a bowl of soup." Axel's mind conjured an image of Roxas doing a face plant in piping hot soup. Humorous, but painful to watch. He'd end up looking like a lobster face. Now, that was a whole new visual. The blond continued with a question. "You have any place in mind?"

The redhead hummed in thought. "I was thinking Italian, but I'm open for amendments."

"Italian sounds fine." It hadn't occurred to Axel that he hadn't gotten a glimpse of those blue, blue eyes since they first started talking on the bench. He was feeling deprived and he wanted _more_.

Axel continued on in his joking manner to shove away the odd and rather out of place thoughts buzzing around in his head. "Just nothing too garlicky. We're going to be sleeping in the same room, you know."

"Right, that. Okay deal, as long as you keep your side of it." Axel could have sword he saw a flicker of a smile on the blond's face.

"Consider it done."

--

**End Notes: **Review, my lovelies, as always! I need some boosters to get me through the next chapter, because it's going to KILL me.


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note:** Second week of college has gone rather smoothly, if I do say so myself. Not sure if my roommate likes it when I stay up late to write, though. Heh, she doesn't even know that I'm writing this thing. Hee, it's my little secret. Mmmm… I loved writing this chapter. Hopefully it answers some questions… and poses even more for you peeps to ponder. Without further ado, I present…

-- --

Chapter 11

--

As it turned out, the restaurant didn't have tablecloths. Not that it mattered any. Their food, once it had finally arrived, was fantastically delicious. And, being men of their word, more or less, neither of them ordered the supreme-o garlic pasta what-have-you dish.

Somewhere, past the tenth bite of his own dish of ravioli, Axel decided to stop the fucking small talk with Roxas and start up an actual conversation that didn't revolve around his weird-ass dreams. Not that the redhead had actually tried to prevent those. In fact, he was the one really provoking them. Just because… it was his business. It was in his head – _Roxas_ was in his head, when he rightfully had no reason to even be a passing acquaintance. But something was telling him that that sort of casual relationship could never possibly be between them. Something was telling him that fact through those dreams that he could hardly recall and the instances in his waking where he simply seized to think and emerged with even more questions as to why he knew so much more about places that he had never visited. And people that he had never met… and things that he had never done. But truly, it was only in his dreams where he could actually decently recall what transpired. All the rest just seemed to be lost somewhere in his subconscious.

All this thinking… it was making Axel's head spin.

"So," the redhead spoke up, "do you like to travel much? I mean, by car or train, not gummi ship."

Roxas glanced up from where he had been staring intently at his lasagna. It must've looked fascinating, the way he poked his fork in and shoveled it in his mouth, because he hadn't even bothered to give Axel a passing glance since it had been placed in front of him. The intern shrugged. "I guess. It's not like Traverse Town has many things to do, but I've been to most of the big places there." Woah, compared to the past few times they had spoken, he was practically shoving his life out in the open. Except for when he told the redhead about the love triangle…

Interesting. "You don't feel kind of caged in by the whole not being able to fly thing?"

--

_The blond stepped confidently into the swirling darkness, undaunted by the menacing wisps of nothingness. Walking as though he had always traveled this way, even though he had only been a member for little over a week…_

--

The blond took another forkful and gazed at it expressionlessly. "Truthfully, I feel more caged by this internship and by my schooling."

Forget shoving information. This guy was giving it away like an ice cream shop on free cone day. "You're still in school, hm? What're you studying?"

Roxas finally took the bite, chewed and swallowed before responding in a flat tone, "Business."

Axel cocked a trimmed red eyebrow at him. "Just business?"

The redhead received a hard gaze. "It's the only thing that my father would accept."

Again with his father? "What the fuck is up with your dad? First you say that he got you into the internship and then that he wouldn't let you do graphic design and now he's forcing you into business? It's like he isn't letting you be free to do what you want." At least his own parents had kicked him out of the house with good intentions, like forcing him to be independent and whatnot. Hell, Axel was feeling like he had the easy way out compared to the intern.

Roxas snorted bitterly, "He never really gave me much of a choice and he's pretty good at forcing me into things."

Being the constant rebel, the redhead had to speak up to that. "And what'd he do if you happened to change your major? Come on, Roxas. You have to be in control of your own future."

The blond's demeanor turned sour. "How about a future without any financial help from my father? How about a future with a shit load of loans to pay off?"

Axel leapt to the defense of this person that he had barely known for a week. "But you're going to be miserable for the rest of your career if you keep this up."

Roxas snorted, "Coming from you? Are you happy with your phone answering and paper pushing job?" He stabbed his food with the fork maliciously.

The redhead found himself caught, "I have been planning to go back to school, you know." And that was absolutely true, damn it.

"What, for fashion design?" Blond spikes wagged back and forth incredulously. "You'd be in the same boat as me, then."

Axel leaned forward and replied seriously, "At least I'd be in the right boat."

Damn, for someone defending his life decisions, this guy was pretty laid back about how wrong it all was. "Just for the sake of continuing this metaphor, what if the boat crashes on a deserted island? Or worse, one with cannibals?" So, he was defending his choices that were obviously making him miserable?

"Then I'll learn how to swim." Axel sat back in his chair when he realized that he had been leaning over his plate.

"You sound pretty determined. Why haven't you done it yet?"

Shit, this guy really knew how to get all up his ass about his faults. Damn, was he a hypocrite or what? "Well, it's kind of like coming out of the closet." Roxas' eyebrows flew up at that, only to be brushed off. "You have to shove away the jackets and coats before you reach the door. I just have stuff I need to do first."

Roxas shrugged and took another bite of his dinner, not seeming to taste it as he chewed. "Your life, I can't force you to change your mind."

--

"_You get on their bad side and they'll destroy you!"_

_He was leaving. He cried out to his friend in a last ditch effort, but to no avail._

--

"Yeah, I guess I can't change your future, but damn it if I can't influence it."

The intern's voice was soft when he spoke next, eyes glued to his food. "I think you already have."

Axel perked up at that, unsure of exactly what the blond had said. "What?" He was waved off and the subject was dropped.

Damn, was that guy able to avoid key conversation points or what? Something was amiss with this guy and Axel was determined to figure out what the hell it was, come Hell or high water.

The pair caught a taxi for the trip back to the hotel once their bill was paid. That car ride seemed to be the longest fucking thing that Axel had to endure in his twenty-odd years of life. Well, minus some of the talks that they had gotten at work and at the stupid conference thing.

Neither of them spoke a word to each other from the moment they left the restaurant until they arrived at the lobby. They clambered into the elevator and the eighth floor button was pressed in.

Axel leaned casually against the mirrored wall of the elevator and let out an exhausted sigh. "Oh, thank the lord I don't have to sleep on the God damned floor. My back was _killing_ me last night."

The double door slid open and the pair shuffled their way out. "Maybe it would help if you got better posture." The blond commented snidely as they reached their room. 813. He slipped the card key in and pressed in, the redhead hesitating slightly before following.

The room was lit and the intern's gaze rounded on Axel, who gave him a blank stare in return. "I don't have bad posture. I'm just angular."

"Yeah, yeah," blue eyes were rolled. "Just keep telling yourself that." The intern dug through his suitcase as Axel scrutinized him. Was that… a joke? Where had salty little bitch of a Roxas gone? The little blond disappeared into the bathroom with a fistful of his pajamas in tow – which just so happened to be a pair of boxers and a tee – and before long, the redhead heard the shower start to run.

He stripped, himself, and pulled the covers over his boxer-clad body and seemed to instantly fall to a dream.

--

_Water cascaded down and filled the air around them with steam. Hair fell limp and dripped into their eyes that were only for the other. The single bar of soap lay forgotten, in favor of their exploration. Arms were entwined, bodies tentatively drawing closer. It was the blond who moved first and filled the lingering space between them, pressing his skin against the overly thin man before him. Number XIII let out a stifled moan at the contact, a second one caught by the redhead as he dove in and crushed their lips together._

_The blond ground his hips against Number VIII's and they both broke away from the heated kiss in favor of gasping in simultaneous harsh breaths. _

_It wasn't their first time, and it most certainly would not be their last. This was feeling for them. It was all the pair could do in order to feel complete…_

_Footsteps echoed through the stark white shower room. Both blond and redhead froze in their ministrations, blue melting into green. _

_Another step._

_The two nobodies broke away from their heated embrace, stifling their reactions to the other's touch and continuing on with their separate showers as if they were complete strangers._

_It was a wordless agreement: nobody was to know of their doings, whether it be right in the other members' minds or wrong. But they continued in secret, because they just wanted to _feel_. They wanted to _be_ something. They filled that void in their chests with the pure sensation of being with the other. It was only then that they could truly feign existence._

--

At first, Axel figured that he was still dreaming. It was just another one of _those_ dreams. It was always Roxas, Roxas, fucking _Roxas_. What would happen this time? His heart get ripped out of his chest? The reoccurrence of the chill where his heart should be? Darkness consuming him? Except this time, it wasn't all that bad. Well, it certainly had been bumped up a notch. In fact, it felt pretty damn good. Or at least his groin felt nice. Like it was on _fire_, except in a pretty damned fantastic way. But there was something moving… and Axel had never had a dream where he could consciously feel his heart thundering and skipping.

Heart…?

Axel's eyes flew open and were met by a lot of blond spiky hair, in such a disarray that he couldn't tell which end was up. But then again, that might've just been the effect of the dark. His mind couldn't make sense of the sensation or of the sight before him and he reached a blind hand up to touch the dark spikes. They were warm and soft… and whatever it was practically purred at the questioning caress.

A hand. It was a _hand_ and it was cupped and fucking kneading at his apparent arousal through the comforter and sheets. There was something screaming at him to move and to press into the touch, but the other part of him refused to allow it and caused his brain to actually function.

"R-Roxas?"

An indecipherable mumble followed his rather startled and groggy question, the blond's lips working gently at his throat. The hand gave a particularly hard squeeze and Axel let out a strangled moan, a shiver working its way down his spine.

He swallowed thickly before pressing on, "Roxas, what are you doing?"

What he didn't expect was a muttered question in response. "Axel, why aren't you touching me back?" His nose nuzzled beneath the redhead's neck, the hot breath flowing enticingly over his soft flesh. "I want to feel too."

"Oh yeah," Axel laughed breathlessly, "you'll feel something. Tomorrow morning when you remember what you are doing right now, you'll feel something for sure. Then you'll blame me and then _I'd_ feel something too." He tried uselessly to push the blond off of him, but he simply wouldn't move away. What the fuck had gotten into him? Was he really that desperate to get laid? But something was… off.

"If I find a heart first, I'll give it to you." Yes, definitely off. He lifted his head of his own accord, revealing blank half-lidded eyes under his blond bangs. Now Axel knew that the intern had truly lost his mind, fallen off the rocker _and_ lost his marbles. Repeatedly. That theory only became pure fact when the hand was removed and a rolling hip took its place. It was all Axel could do to stay still and to not provoke the guy any more. It was killing the redhead in a slow, agonizing fashion.

_Damn_ did he just want to fuck that guy until his back stuck to the sheets…

_More, more, more…_

"I want you to be able to feel," was whispered to his lips, eyes unfocused and blind.

Axel grimaced at his continued resistance to the ever so inviting touches. "I feel just fine, Ro-" The blond dove in between the unsuspecting redhead's parted lips, seizing control of the kiss immediately and forcing Axel to submit to his punishing tongue. Holy _shit_ he was a good kisser. Then again, the redhead wasn't all that used to other people overpowering him and frankly, he wasn't minding all that much at the moment. It was his brain screaming _No, no, no!_ at him that forced him to shove away the rather delicate chest hovering above him, successfully breaking away from the mostly one-sided lip lock. It was _wrong_, but why did it feel so perfectly right?

Roxas let out a predatory growl, his eyes still hooded and blank.

The redhead had to let out a breathy and mirthless laugh. "You are either drunk out of your skull or high on painkillers because the Roxas I know would be castrating me about now." No response from the intern. Or maybe…

The hands pressing at the blond's chest moved to his shoulders and Axel gave them a light shake. "Roxas, wake up."

He stubbornly shook his head, "I need you, Axel. I-"

The blond stopped. He completely froze and his eyelids flew open, revealing much more awake blue. They stared, stupefied, into carefully neutral green. He blinked. Once, twice…

His words came out as a slow whisper, carefully annunciating each sound. "Holy fuck." That was when things really started to get interesting. As if they weren't already. Somehow, he flung himself backwards out of Axel's light grasp as if he had just touched an electric fence from Jurassic Park and promptly landed on his ass at the foot of the bed. From what Axel could see in the only slightly moonlit room, the blond had a quite apparent problem in his pant region. Not that the redhead was any better off.

As soon as he finished bouncing on the mattress after his initial impact, Roxas burst out with accusations. Well, actually just one. "What the _hell_ are you doing?"

Oh, he couldn't _believe_ this guy. "What am _I_ doing?" Axel laughed incredulously, drawing his knees to his chest to hide his problem, which Roxas didn't seem to have enough sense in him to notice his own, never mind have any sense of dignity or an attempt to hide it. Axel continued on, meeting the challenging gaze with one of his own, "I wasn't the one who jumped _you_ when I was asleep."

Roxas seemed to swallow his tongue and finally was able to choke out, "I was asleep?"

Axel snorted and tugged the blanket closer to his chest. "Must've been one hell of a dream. You don't remember anything?" He cocked his eyebrow and stared intently at the floundering blond. Roxas simply shook his head, at a loss for words. "Well," Axel continued, voice dripping with venom, "I certainly do and it wasn't no fucking pink pony party." Unless he was into that stuff. Axel gave an inner shudder.

The intern must have realized his pant problem because he suddenly shifted positions, not that it made it any less obvious. "What'd I do?"

Axel ran a hand down his face, trying to clear his mind of the sensation of the guy's hips rolling over his own. "Let's just say that it is pretty obvious that you're experienced."

"I sleep walk," Roxas sputtered out in a rush, as if it explained his actions any better.

"Yeah, yeah. And sleep talk, sleep grope, and give sleep hand jobs." Piercing green rounded on stunned cerulean. He could still taste the vaguely sweet lips, which were parted in favor of deep and hollow breaths of air before him. "Great set of job skills, if you ask me. Maybe you can take what you learned here and apply it to the fucking workforce."

"But I didn't-"

"Shove it. Get the fuck off my bed, go to sleep, and stay the _hell_ away from me."

To hell with politeness. Axel was tired, he needed a cold shower, and he was feeling like being a bitch. Fuck, he had every right to be angry at the intern. The redhead disappeared into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him, and finished off the sleep-walking blond's job before jumping under the freezing cold shower.

Wasn't it the point of having rules for yourself so that you _wouldn't_ break them? Was it an exception to the rule if the coworker came onto him first? But damn, that guy hadn't even been fully _conscious_. Wasn't that another one of his rules? Fuck, this was _not_ turning out as planned. It wasn't at all like he had imagined and Axel had no idea where it would take him next.

--

**End Notes:** So? What do you think? Oh yeah, I've been wanting to write a shower scene for quite some time. Didn't turn out like I wanted, but I had to actually move the plot along with it… sort of.

Reviews are always lovingly appreciated!


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note:** Guess what?! I went to my first gay dance yesterday! It was epic! Except my feet/legs hurt like hell now, 'cause I danced for like three straight hours. I've got stamina –wink-. So yeah, enjoy this chapter that I've been working on off and on for a while now.

-- --

Chapter 12

--

When Axel woke the following morning, the pile of blankets on the floor was empty. Good. Given the intern's little display the night before and the redhead's reaction, the latter was quite capable of standing his absence. There was just something about getting jumped out of nowhere by a guy that he either despised or had deep not-feelings for in his dreams. It just wasn't _natural_.

All things considered, Axel shouldn't even be remotely interested in the blond. But the dreams were getting increasingly hard to ignore. Especially when they increasingly left him… hard.

His mind recalled the fuzzy memory of what Roxas had mumbled to him in his sleep. He wanted to feel. Well, that was desperate and selfish. But then again, wasn't that the whole point of Axel's little sex-escapades? He said that he needed Axel… for what, exactly? To get off? Damn, that was needy. He was like a little kid – aw, little baby need a warm bottle? What other useless crap had that guy mumbled?

A heart.

Roxas had promised him a heart…? Didn't that imply that he was heartless to begin with? Shit, that either meant that the blond in his dream thought that he was cold and cruel or… that he really didn't have one and it matched up with that chill in his chest; or those moments where he felt as though his chest would explode with the amount of feeling that passed through him. When his heart felt like it was on overdrive because he wasn't… wasn't what? Used to having a heart beating in his chest? Fuck, he had had a heart for the entirety of his existence. Why was it that he just noticed the difference not a half of a year before?

Maybe the guy was having separation anxiety from that whole wacked-out love triangle. He needed someone to need him in return. Maybe that was what the dream had been about…? But Roxas had said the redhead's name. That could've been a coincidence. Yes, pure coincidence.

Axel glanced to his right and saw the ever-empty pile of blankets on the floor. Damn, his back still hadn't recovered since the last time he had slept down there. And he didn't have any nighttime painkillers to knock him out. Well, fuck. This was turning out to be a rather miserable trip. Started out bad, went bad, and was bound to end bad. It was just the way of the world that revolved around Axel. Things always got worse, and the better part never really came. It was what he expected.

He then glanced to the bedside table and his eyes rounded on the digital clock placed there. It took him a moment to realize that the ten wasn't a seven, like it should have been when he woke up.

"Holy _shit_." Axel was up and out of the bed faster than a ninja star – or was it a pirate's cannon ball? – and quickly dug through his suitcase for something proper to wear. Somehow, he didn't think that his green flame boxers would be widely accepted by the general business crowd as proper attire. Although, it wasn't very proper to be two hours late to a mandatory conference that your big-ass boss sent you to, either.

He was out the door in a matter of minutes, barely taking time to take his morning piss and to brush his teeth. As it turned out, he came to the lecture thing right during the break, so it was quite easy for him to sneak in unnoticed. He glanced around the room as the rest of the people took their seats, unconsciously knowing that he was searching for a certain conference-goer with a petit stature, wild blond spikes on his head, and blue, like woah _blue_ eyes. Who had the tendency to sleepwalk. And… completely confuse Axel.

The redhead couldn't see how to deal with his situation, so he automatically turned to the offence, blocking out anyone and anything from his inner turbulence. No one had to know that his roommate had molested him and that he actually _liked_ _it_. Never mind the dreams pointing to a more… intimate relationship with someone who looked exactly like his roommate and acted like him, too. He seemed to know a hell of a lot more about the blond intern than he really should. Things that Roxas had never told him and that he had never observed himself.

He knew that the bottom of his feet were ticklish, but nowhere else on him made the blond squirm nearly as much, talking in a non-sexual way. He knew that the small frame was deceiving in his ability to dominate. He knew that he had interesting taste in footwear…

--

_A laugh rang out in the otherwise silent corridor of gray. Cerulean eyes turned on mocking emerald and scowled._

"_What is it_ now_, VIII?" His voice was like acid, completely fed up with the redhead's continued taunting and jeering, even though the Flurry of Dancing Flames knew very well where they got him._

"_What, did they run out of boots for you? Those things are freaking _huge_." Blond eyebrows flew up before he glanced down, past the hem of his coat, to the oversized black tennis shoes that he had been given along with the rest of his uniform. "Did they just paint over your old shoes, or what? You know, you're the only one besides Larxene that has gotten special shoes. What does that say about _you_, I wonder?"_

"_Hey _Flurry_, don't you torture me enough in our training missions?"_

"_Not nearly as much as I should. I'm going into overtime for you, kid. You should be grateful."_

_The blond scoffed. "I'll be grateful when you burn and die in your own flames. That would be something I could look forward to."_

--

And that he was always asking questions that had no answer, or an answer that he could not hear. He knew that his favorite place to sit was high atop a clock tower in a place where there was no night or day… just twilight. He knew that he didn't take advice readily. He knew that the blond was impulsive and rash with a tendency to get into some pretty nasty moods, even though he claimed that he felt nothing.

Axel knew that the blond couldn't resist when his nipples were teased. He knew that his sweet spot was right below his ear on his neck and that he loved to have gentle fingers caress the back of his knees. He knew that it took a hell of a lot of effort to get him to submit, and even then he was a force to be reckoned with.

He knew that the blond was stubborn and would never allow himself to think that they could be anything other than what they were. And that he protested against his feeling of anything.

--

_Number VIII glanced up from pulling on his black boots to where the blond was passively dressing himself._

"_So what exactly are we?"_

_The blond shoved his hand into the sleeve of his coat and replied blankly, "We're nobodies, Axel."_

_The redhead gave him a hard stare, blue eyes never meeting his own. "You know what I mean."_

"_Do I?" Came the emotionless response as the blond shouldered his coat. Axel growled and stood, making quick work of the distance between them that had grown since their act of feeling. Still un-gloved hands slipped into the unzipped coat of the blond and teased at the hem of his shirt, hot fingers brushing enticingly over his skin. Number XIII stiffened momentarily at the touch before releasing a small moan as the hands continued to explore, even though they knew his body far more intimately than they rightfully should._

_Axel pressed himself close to the Key of Destiny, as he had what felt like moments ago before the clothes had been torn off. He growled into the blond's ear, "I think you do."_

--

The speaker in the seminar had already begun speaking to the conference room filled from wall to wall with not-so-cheapy fold-out chairs. Just about every seat was filled, and Axel knew that his little intern was amongst them.

Not that he gave a flying fuck about… Roxas.

Who was his… best friend?

How could that be? Demyx had always been his best bud, and he wasn't going to allow a few dreams or _memories_ take that over.

Axel growled softly to himself and pressed his palm to his forehead.

"Are you alright?"

It took a moment to realize that the small voice had come from someone sitting beside him. Pale blond hair pulled over her shoulder, brilliant blue eyes, small stature…

_Naminé._

_She was a pawn of DiZ. She had wiped Roxas' memories. _

Axel gave himself a mental shake. Since when had he known _her_ and since when had he hated her guts? "Yeah, just a headache." The speaker droned on before them as they carried out their whispered conversation.

She gave him a sweet smile, but wagged her finger at him. "You should know better than to go out drinking when you know that you have a morning conference."

Axel could have laughed. She thought he had a hangover! If only it were that simple. "Yeah, I'll be sure to keep that in mind."

"Well, you have tomorrow to improve, at least. You can't miss the last day, you know."

That caught the redhead. It was true, they only had one more day of the damned training whatever the fuck it was, then he and the little blond intern would be hitting the skies the following morning. And they would have to sit _next_ to each other. One step at a time. He would cross that bridge when he came to it, damn it.

He had more pressing matters on hand, like – his cell phone buzzing in his back pocket. Axel could have cried out in joy at the opportunity of distraction. He pulled it out and read the text message from his best fucking friend in the whole world.

-_Hey Ax, you getting a good education over there?-_

Axel earned a softly questioning look from the girl, who voiced her thoughts. "What's that?"

He snapped his phone shut and was out of his seat in no time, taking enough time to reply with a low, "Just business," before he slipped out of the room and into the hallway.

The redhead took refuge next to the overpriced vending machine and punched in a response.

_-Dem, you have to save me. I'm going crazy here.-_

He got a response after a few long and agonizing moments.

_-You missing your BFF? Or are you too lonely at night?-_

_Demyx. Water, sitar, IX…_

_-Yeah right. My roomie is coming onto me like mad-_

There was a slightly shorter pause after that one was sent before the next one came.

_-He's WHAT? Are you crazy? You remember what I told you before you left?-_

Oh, right. About how Cid would be all over his ass if he got together with the innocent little intern. Innocent, hah. That was a stretch.

_-Yeah, I remember. Look, I'll call you later. I'm missing this conference on continuing education or something-_

Axel could almost hear the disappointed sigh.

_-Don't do anything stupid, like you usually do-_

The redhead snapped his phone shut and shoved it back into his pocket. Damn it, even his best friend would think that he was crazy.

000

Axel dragged himself up to the hotel room after the talk had ended, which took an additional two hours. His mind was practically melting with all the crap running through it. He would have expected to have the night before on his mind, but that just wasn't it. There were countless other nights, other days… that had never happened that he was remembering. Things that were impossible to even imagine, but he was remembering them like a far off dream.

He threw himself onto the already perfectly made bed and let out a frustrated groan into the mattress. After a moment of lying with his face planted, he dug around in his pocket without changing his position and blindly punched his best friend's number in, pressing the phone to his ear while his face remained buried.

"Dude, what the hell is up with your roommate?" Demyx's voice came through the phone far too loudly. Axel simply let out another groan, and his friend continued, "Well, don't you dare start coming onto him as well. I can't save you from that. So what exactly happened? I need all the juicy details."

Axel groaned again, but sat up and rested against the headboard before relaying the previous night's events to Demyx, minus the intern's words that still confused the hell out of him.

"Shit," Demyx whispered once Axel had finished lamely, "I didn't think that you would've been strong enough to resist that offer."

"Yeah, but it was a very near thing." Damn, did it feel good to get that information off of his chest. No one else but his best friend would take it for what it was – some devious mistake and chance. At least that's what Axel hoped was happening.

"You need to be more like me. You know, I haven't snapped yet!" He sounded so _proud_ of himself.

The redhead had to smirk at that. "Snapped because of who, I wonder?"

There was a pause, then, "Did I say anything about someone?"

Axel knew his best friend all too well. "Spill it, Dem. Who is it?"

He could almost see those sky blue eyes roll and the blond brows draw together in frustration. "I can't just _tell_ you. You never tell me about _your_ little expeditions."

"That's because they don't matter to me." He knew he was getting the disapproving pout over the phone. He continued anyway. "But with you it's different, so spill it."

Axel knew that he has won when Demyx let out a defeated sigh. "Well, you know how the floor below us in the office building kind of has a math research lab or something like that?" Axel could vaguely remember and gave his friend the benefit of the doubt. "Well, he's from down there. He was kind of shy and quiet at first, but he has been warming up to me over the past few days."

Axel allowed a smile to overcome him. "You do that pretty well, Dem." He could almost see the blush. A click came from the doorway and it swung open, revealing a sunken blond. He froze when he spotted Axel sprawled out on the perfectly made bed. He seemed to flinch at the icy glare that the redhead gave him in return. Axel turned his attention away from his roommate and back to the phone. "Do I get a name or what?"

As Demyx spoke, Roxas returned the glare at Axel and pointed to the mattress then to himself, indicating that the bed belonged to him that day.

Axel scowled and continued to ignore the blond, returning to his phone conversation. "Zexion? What kind of name is that? Sounds like a name of a wicked looking sword or something." He listened to Demyx for a bit, eyes swivel back on Roxas, who was still standing awkwardly to the side, close enough to the door to make a quick escape. Green eyes were rolled. "Look, Dem, I need to go. Mister intern just got back." Demyx made some comment at which Axel scoffed, "Not going to happen, Dem. I'll call you later." The phone was snapped shut and green swiveled on blue.

Roxas leaned a shoulder against the wall beside the closed door, arms crossed over his chest. "You're lying on my bed."

Axel gave him a hard look and returned with acid. "You didn't mind sharing it last night."

The intern blanched before turning bright red, turning his gaze away uncomfortably and mumbling, "I was sleep walking."

The phone was stuffed back into his pocket. "So you keep saying."

Roxas steeled, sharp eyes rounding on the redhead. "What do you want me to say? That I meant to go and molest you? How the hell was I supposed to know that I'd go and do that?"

Axel returned, no less menacing than the blond, "If you are really that desperate to get laid, I would suggest getting a hooker. Don't worry, I'll scratch it out of the annual spending report for you."

Blue eyes were burning. "Fuck you, Axel."

Axel scoffed, "You wish. Your heart probably still belongs to that Sora guy."

Roxas snarled, pushing off of the wall to face the redhead, "My heart belongs to me! You remember those words? Of course you don't, because you weren't there with me when I fucking said them!" Were those tears in his eyes? The outburst caught Axel off-guard, enough that he dropped whatever acidity that he had once let flow to his tongue. Roxas continued through clenched teeth, "And you should've been. You left me to rot to insanity and fade away, you bastard."

Green eyes widened. "Roxas, I don't-" The door slammed behind the blond before he could finish his sentence, leaving the redhead in utter confusion.

Insanity…? Fade away? Wasn't he supposed to be whole again?

--

**End Notes: **Well? Whaddya think is going to happen to our favorite redhead and blondie? Hey, if everyone who reads this reviews, I bet you guys could… make me really happy! Trust me, I don't bite. Much. –Cackle-


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note: **GAH! Sorry about the uber long wait! I would have had this to you last week, but I had a killer exam in anatomy that I studied the hell out of for. So yeah. That's my reason for being late. But you get a chapter full of goodies! So be happy! Oh yeah, and it's Roxie's chapter! Huzzah!

-- --

Chapter 13

--

Axel waited a grand total of two and a half minutes before he tore out of the hotel room in frantic search of the blond intern. He took a quick glance up and down the hallway before making his way to the elevator. He reached the lobby and, needless to say, Roxas was nowhere in sight.

He just disappeared without a trace, just like… like…

_Just like he did before_.

The redhead had to choke down a shriek of the blond's name that bubbled up out of nowhere. Why did he keep getting this vision – this _haunting_ – of a black-cloaked figure walking away from him?

_That's not true! I would…_

Why did he feel so fucking helpless as his emerald eyes scanned the bustling lobby for a guy that he hardly knew?

But then again… he knew Roxas almost better than he did himself.

He knew that the blond enjoyed light conversation while looking out at the sunset after a hard day's work. He knew that he enjoyed being undressed slowly, no matter how much he begged for the process to hasten.

But there was something in the back of Axel's mind that stabbed at him to remember. Things about… himself.

His mind flashed back to a passing conversation that the pair had become involved in the previous day over lunch. Roxas had asked him about his tattoos, and Axel simply responded that casinos, cheap booze and tattoo parlors do not mix well.

_They represented the tears that he could not and never would shed_.

Axel swooned at the constant motion of the people and luggage passing by. His heart thundered in his breast, the sound deafening his ears and drowning out all other sound.

He needed darkness. He needed gray silence and… numbness.

His eyes blurred as he searched around the crowded room, feet frozen to the floor. He got only passing images through his unfocused gaze. A petite girl with wine-red hair standing beside a cluster of bags.

_Kairi_.

A cluster of what looked like three friends. A taller blond – _Hayner_ – a pudgy guy with a headband – _Pence_ – and a tiny brunette with candy green eyes – _Olette_.

Wild blond spikes, in more of a disarray than he had ever seen, that swept over blue eyes. Blue like, woah _blue_, that looked so… lost and empty.

Roxas.

He just stood there, motionless as Axel seeped into those cerulean blue eyes, revealing such a mix of feeling and emotion that they seemed to _glow_. Axel reached out a hand that moved of its own accord; a pleading gesture. The intern drew back slightly from across the room, their gaze only broken by the passerby. A cautious question crossed those blue, blue eyes, and they were gone.

As soon as he had appeared, Roxas was gone. And Axel was lost.

000

Somehow, Axel remembered the afternoon conference that he was _fucking_ required to attend and, surprisingly, his heart didn't explode halfway through the speaker's pathetically boring speech. No sir, he was quite able to sit still enough and have the words flow over him without taking in a single part of it. His mind was simply swarming with questions that he didn't think had answers.

Soon enough, he found himself waiting for the elevator, not a blond in sight. Thankfully, no one else was in sight either and shoved in the up arrow button. The doors slid open at their own leisure, the redhead slipping hastily in before any other passerby could enter. Axel's finger found and pressed the button that would lead him to the eighth floor.

Eight.

_Number VIII_.

--

"_Numbers VIII and XIII, you are needed in Hollow Bastion."_

--

Axel held his head in his hands, another sudden rush of pure feeling rushing through him. Eight and thirteen? No… VIII and XIII. Names that had no face to connect them to began flickering though his mind. _Riku, Sora, DiZ, Xemnas, Saix, Namine, _Roxas_._

--

_Their legs dangled over the stone eminence, the steady beat and ticking of the clock's mechanics echoed through the tower. A deep click periodically rang out below their feet as the minute hand of the clock turned one notch. The resonation sang through their bodies, making the pair feel as though there was something else making their bodies move besides the steady intake of air into their lungs. It became the beat that no resided in their hollow chests. The golden-pink sunset seemed to stretch out for eternity over the rooftops of the sleepy town before them._

_Cerulean blue found contemplating green, "Where do you think we go when we disappear?"_

_The redhead smirked mirthlessly and looked back over the horizon as he spoke. "I think that depends on whether we have hearts or not." Even thinking that sent a jolt of dread through him._

"_Do you think that we'll be able to do it all over?"_

_Axel rounded on the blond with a hint of skepticism, "What, like get reborn? Highly unlikely if you ask me. I think you need a heart to get granted that little token of splendor," he ended bitterly, twisting a hand through the air before him._

_That blue gaze left him and moved over the quiet town below. The clock tower vibrated as yet another minute had passed by. "Maybe a heart is something that you can't see… or feel."_

"_Hey, we can't feel anything, remember?" _

_Roxas looked over at Axel, his eyes darkened and blank. "You really believe that?"_

_Axel was forced to turn his gaze away from that accusing look. Sadness and guilt glazed over his forest green eyes, as he slowly shook his head. "Sometimes I don't remember what real feeling feels like. It's just… lost."_

_The Key of Destiny raised a corner of his mouth ever so slightly. "Getting forgetful, old man?"_

"_Roxas." The almost mournful tone caused Roxas to drop his half smile. "Have you remembered anything from your other?"_

_Blue turned away once more, hands cupping around thick sleeved but still scrawny-looking elbows. "A few dreams," he answered, "not much more than that. I don't even know his name. At least you can remember just about everything."_

_Axel sighed and shoved his fingers through his hair – an agitated motion. "Sometimes it's not all that great. I mean- I was another person. Sometimes I can almost feel my other, but he was just lost. I do remember what it felt like to have my heart torn out, though." Just the mere memory of it sent a chill down his spine. "Believe me; you don't want to have those memories."_

_Roxas leaned on his outstretched hand, gazing out at the golden horizion. "At least it'd be something."_

_The Flurry of Dancing Flames glanced to his side to see the blond's contemplative expression. He continued after a moment's pause, the slightest bit of uncertainty in his voice. "Well, you have memories now, right? You have-" he paused, tentatively reaching over and placing his gloved palm atop the blond's hand, "you have something."_

Bodies pressed together, becoming one moving mass of naked skin.

_A flush overcame Number XIII. "Y-yeah, I guess I do."_

--

"I'm going insane." Axel stated to the empty elevator, diving into hysterics, "I'm going _insane_. Holy fucking God, I am going insane."

--

_Clothes were torn mercilessly from searing frozen flesh. Nude bodies collided and joined together in their illicit dance._

_The Key of Destiny straddled the Flurry of Dancing Flames, who slouched in the impossibly white stone chair, welcoming the passion that rightfully was not theirs to share._

_It was enticing. It was reassuring. It was sex. But it was not love._

_Loving required a spirit – a heart – for the bond to be complete. The pair never bothered, never _dared_, to utter those three words that meant so much to Sombodies. It would have been meaningless, just like they treated their act._

_It was everything and nothing to them._

_It was freedom. It was denial and betrayal. It was defiant and childish._

_It was sex. There was nothing more._

_Neither spoke in their proceedings because there was no need. Only their heavy breathing and the gentle sounds of their sex issued in the echoing, empty room. Where all eyes could see but none looked._

_One wanted to remember what it was like to feel, the other simply wanted answers. One knew the answers but could not tell, fearing that the blond would abandon him to seek out his destiny, and Number VIII would never be that close to feeling again. So they continued in their endless dance of concealment and betrayal. But neither cared, as long as it was the other that they shared those moments with. Pure feeling created by bodily desires. _

_They got what they wanted, but it was never enough._

_It never would _be_ enough._

--

They had _hearts_. They could _feel_. It no longer had to be that way. It would be _enough_.

"I'm here on business. It's only business. Just _business_." Axel tried telling himself that, but he knew that this trip was not solely for the benefit of the business. They had been brought together by some random fluke and something… something was bound to happen.

Now that they had hearts.

Axel stumbled from the elevator as the doors slid open to floor eight. _VIII_…

He barely was able to close the door to the empty hotel room before his vision turned to darkness.

It was darker than he had ever seen. It seemed to roil around him, licking his flesh like icy flames. It took the breath from his lungs and it was replaced with heavy shadows that had seen too many sorrows but weren't able to respond. They had tasted death; they had smelled blood and they had consumed fear.

Then there were two eyes. Narrowed into slits, Axel couldn't tell if they revealed joy or fury. Or maybe they told of everlasting… numbness.

Those eyes had seen destruction and had seen death brought upon by the bearer's own hands. They had seen woe and they had heartlessly killed. Green…

Axel realized he was staring into a reflection of his own self, his face obscured by a dark hood. The cloaked figure stepped towards him, the boot-fall echoing through the empty realm. He staggered back from the man in black, who seemed to dissolve into the shadows, only to reappear just before Axel. He staggered back as the appearance of his dark clone brought flickers of flame.

A cold voice resonated through Axel, and for a moment he could have sworn that his own voice had rasped out. But his own lips had not moved. "_So this is what I would have been like with a heart? Damn, I'm a sissy_." The black figure with his eyes had spoken with Axel's voice. It was heartless and cruel. He took a step closer to the redhead – a menacing motion. "_Come on, Axel, play with some _fire." Axel was thrown down as a burst of flames curved through the darkness and hit him in the chest, feeling as if it were a fist made of inferno. He landed heavily on his back, knocking whatever breath out of him that he had possibly been able to retain. Flames sprung out of the ground around the pair.

The cloaked figure threw back his hood to reveal – _Axel_. Axel choked as another one of himself knelt over him, their faces bare inches away from each other. _Axel_ continued in his cruel tone, "_You remember fire? You were once made of flames; it was your very core. You lived in the inferno and you died in the inferno_."

"What the fuck are you talking about? I'm still alive!" Axel yelled as loud as his out of breath state would let him.

_Axel_ only chuckled darkly in return and replied with a simple, "_Not for long_." The cloaked redhead wasconsumed by darkness, appearing instantly just beside the flames that created the circle of fire, becoming a silhouette as the inferno brightened. "_Who is your other, Axel?_" He asked as Axel tried to lift himself from the ground made of darkness. "_Who makes you complete?_"

Axel managed to stand. He had never had a strange flashback-dream-freaky thing that had told him that. "I don't-"

_Axel _interrupted with a boom, the flames rising as he did so, "_Yes you do! Who is he?_"

The smoke caused him to choke, his eyes watering as he tried to respond to his previous self. "I c-can't tell you! I don't remember!"

"_Yes, you do_." Chackarams burst to life in _Axel_'s grasp and were instantly hurled at the unsuspecting redhead, who moved out of their path just before they came whirling by. Axel knew – he _knew_ to listen for the second whistle of the weapons, and dodged the pair of chackarams as they returned to their owner's black gloved hands.

_Axel_ grinned wildly, "_So, you remember our fighting technique._" The smirk disappeared as fast as it had come and was replaced by a scowl. "_You know who your other is.You remember him better than you do yourself- than me. He makes you feel… like you have a heart._"

Axel straightened from where he had dodged the weapons to. "But I can't feel." Fire roared up from beneath him and licked his flesh ruthlessly, consuming him in the airless heat. He let out a shriek of agony as _Axel _looked on.

"_Can you feel this?_" Axel withered as the flames continued to consume him. He could almost see the satisfied and cold smirk spread across _Axel_'s face."_Good. Now, remember. He was all you ever cared about. He was who we killed for. He is who we killed our self for. Now, _who is he_?_"

Axel gasped for air that was no longer around him. The flames were becoming the darkness. Or maybe… _he_ was becoming one of the shadows. A phantom memory - or was it a vision? – came to him in the form of a blond, but he was trapped within someone. He tried to get out and call out the name of the nobody who had forever been his best friend. "R-_Roxas_!" Axel coughed out as his body began to fade, "He's Roxas!"

_Axel _came into his vision, cold green eyes staring down at him. "_Now remember everything about him. Remember about us and what shouldn't have been, but_ was_. He is everything to you, so don't you dare let him run away again. Got that memorized?_"

Axel could no longer feel his body. Or maybe he had no body. Maybe he had no body to begin with… just a shell that was waiting for memories to return.

"_You are our next life. Roxas is waiting._"

And suddenly, Axel was nothing.

--

**End Notes: **If you have no idea what happened in that last scene, it was Axel getting attacked by _Axel_, who is his past self. Like how Roxas attacked Sora in KHII! Get it?! YAY!!

… Oh boy, I am looking forward to writing this next chapter. AHAHA! –Evil author cackle-


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's Note: **Holy. Fucking. Hell. How long have I been waiting to write this chapter? Three, four months? Oh yeah. AND you get an uber long chapter to make up for the lateness of the last one. Taa daa!!

-Ahem- **WARNING: This one gets a bit LEMONY**. So, FYI.

Enjoy.

-- --

Chapter 14

--

Axel tossed and turned on his makeshift blanket floor-bed, shooting pain racing up his spine with every position that he found. When he had come-to after the… whatever the hell that vision crap had been, he had found himself sprawled out on the makeshift blanket floor-bed. He had looked up in the dark hotel room to the bed above him to see… Roxas. Rather, he had seen a lump under the bed covers and a few spikes of blond hair. He had been fighting an instinctual urge to jump the blond, whether to maul his face or fuck his brains out, Axel didn't know.

So Axel had glued himself to the floor, which was no softer than it had been two nights previously. Needless to say, his back had not improved all that much since then.

It didn't help that the redhead's mind would not leave him to sleep. It kept on racing along, with all of the memories, if that's what they were, and that whole thing where his mind… his _previous self_ had attacked him. When he had… burned him alive in fury and desperation. But how could Axel remember something that had never happened to him? Nothing made _sense_, but it was happening regardless.

Axel's memories were… becoming _Axel_'s. The redhead could hardly discern his own from his previous self's.

The redhead turned, not bothering to silence his movements, flopping onto his stomach to see if that brought any relief. Well, it was a bit better, but his back still hurt like hell.

The lump atop the bed shifted. Either the intern was having a bad-back night or- "If you don't stop moving, neither of us will get any sleep." And damn if he didn't sound _pissed_.

Axel turned his head and glared at the blond's disgruntled bed-head peeking over the side of the mattress. "Then get some earplugs or something," he ground out, "because my back is killing me."

Roxas growled and he disappeared over the mattress. He let out a frustrated sigh. "Axel, get up here and shut your face."

Axel eyed the dark space where the blond's head had previously been with suspicion. When no further comment came, the redhead caved in to the invitation and crawled over, heaving himself over the edge of the bed. He could have sworn he saw the turned back of the intern cringe when his back popped in a few places along his journey.

Darkness almost instantly overtook him.

--

_Icy blond spikes melted against an overly pale and tattooed cheek, the youngest member crushed to his chest as they lay on the bed in Number VIII's chambers. The pair was cocooned in as many blankets as Axel could find in the short amount of time he had allowed himself to be away from the still-shivering blond since they had returned from the Land of Dragons._

_Cold skin pressed against his own warm flesh, the blond still convulsing with shivers. "Damn, Roxas," he breathed softly into Number XIII's hair, "you're freezing." The blond shifted slightly, sprawled out across Axel's chest like a lizard on a warm rock, except the rock could feel every movement, every breath against his neck… _

"_Why did you come searching for me?" The blond's voice rasped out, weak from the extreme chill._

No one would miss me.

_The question caught the redhead off guard, and he answered with the most logical response. "I was appointed your mentor. That means that I can't let you go and die." But he knew that wasn't the only reason. There was something there… that he couldn't say. He wanted it… damn did he want it. Something he wanted to feel, but_ couldn't.

That's not true…

_Roxas lifted his head to stare into green, shadowed by the darkness but burning with inner flame. "Is that it? I'm just another mission to complete for The Superior?" Beyond the usual dull and icy tone that the blond usually carried, a touch of bitterness rang through._

_Axel sighed, adverting his gaze as much as he could with those blue, blue eyes mere inches from his own. "You're my best friend, Rox. You know what I would do for you if you were in need, like tonight."_

…I would.

"_What if I needed more than saving?" The blond suddenly asked, gaining strength as he probed further with his questions._

_The redhead eyed him suspiciously, wondering what he was trying to get at. "What do you mean?"_

_The blond shifted once more, his legs falling on either side of the Flurry of Dancing Flames. Shit, he was still so cold… "Have you ever wondered what it would take to feel?"_

"_All the time," Axel muttered without thinking much of the question._

_Blue eyes flashed above him, a look that Axel only saw just before a battle. "I have a theory." Before the redhead could question his motives, soft lips collided down awkwardly on his own. It was… an odd sensation. But that's just what it was – something he could _feel_ without a heart telling him that it was a feeling. He refused to believe it was so easy._

_Axel pulled away from the mostly one-sided kiss. "Roxas, you're delusional from the cold. You shouldn't even be… you would've… normally you're-"_

"_Maybe," Roxas cut him off sharply, shoving him forcefully into the mattress they laid upon. "Maybe I'm just a pawn of the Superior." The petit body was pressed closer to the far more long and lanky one below. "Maybe I will never get a heart and know what it is to feel. But I have to try."_

_Inexperienced lips worked at Axel's jaw, much warmer than the rest of his body. Axel took in a hitching breath at the not-so-gentle caress. "Rox-"_

"_Shut up," the blond demanded, an almost pleading sound, as if he were begging the redhead not to stop him. He wanted it, but it was so _wrong_. They weren't supposed to… be able to feel anything._

"_Roxas," Axel warned breathily, "you don't know what you're doing to me." Those devious lips left the tender flesh below his ear and the Flurry of Dancing Flames shuddered at their departure._

_Bright blue appeared before him, eyelids lowered seductively. "I have a vague idea." A more and more prominent pressure in his groin was becoming more and more apparent, the blood rushing from his head to the more southern region, allowing for very little thought. "I want you to feel, Axel. Show me how it is to feel."_

I… I'm going back to how I was.

_Without further comment or question of what the hell they were getting themselves into, Axel cupped the back of Roxas' neck and pulled him forward until their lips met and parted for one another. Tongues sought each other, desperate for more. The blond moaned into the redhead's mouth, sparking something in the back of Axel's brain, and he let out a predatory growl, biting down on Roxas' lower lip. A sharp gasp was taken in by Number XIII, but he was only encouraged to dive deeper._

I've thought about it a lot. Roxas… You have a heart, don't you?

_A small hand sought out Axel's and brought it to his chest before trailing the ungloved hand down his side and beneath the hem of his boxers. Green opened to lustful blue and the fingers kneaded at the tender flesh beside the blond's entrance. The sound that emerged from Roxas' throat was a beautiful one to the redhead's ears as he continued searching unexplored territory. He tugged the slender hips down, grinding them against his own._

But the heart's not something you can see. I've started wondering whether it's something you can't feel either. If so, then… Nah, nevermind.

_They had long since broken their tongue-tango, each one more focused on the other slight movements of their bodies against the other, each one bringing new and overwhelming sensations. So what if they couldn't feel with their hearts? They were completing their bodily desires and if they worked at it, they could trick their minds into thinking that it was something more._

Sora's waiting for me…

_Small hands dove under the redhead's shirt, riding it up with slow and taunting caresses. His kisses began along the top of his sternum before they trailed lower and lower still on the overly thin torso. Axel glanced down and was met by a devilish grin, the blond licking his lips slowly before circling them around one of Axel's perked nipples, his tongue working between light nips and sucks. The redhead squirmed, breathing hitched and labored as the blond continued, moving on to his left nipple after the first had had enough._

See ya, Axel.

_But nothing could ever be enough with Roxas. There was always something… more._

_Hips moved smoothly against one another, damned clothing the only barrier between them. The blond was by far back to normal temperatures as the two throbbed with heat. Their movements were the beat that their chests could never produce._

See ya, partner.

_Throb, throb, throb…_

--

Beat, beat, beat.

Darkness permeated every corner, every fold of cloth, every hollow of flesh.

Movement… all around him, against him, with him. Soft moans from another mouth as well as his own. His shirt was ridden up his chest, which was strangely wet. Lips gasping for air and breathing hotly against his in between working at the soft flesh behind his jaw. His own hand rested at the base of the other's spine, coaxing more movement out of…

"Roxas." Axel froze all movement on his part, now cognitively aware of his dream… memory-induced motion. He could almost feel the blond's heart plummet into his stomach, the hair on his forearms rising with a sudden chill.

"Oh God…" Wide, fearful blue eyes surrounded by a pink flush appeared before him. "Shit," he hissed out, grimacing regretfully as he pressed away from the redhead, "I though you were-"

Axel caught the back of Roxas' neck and stopped him from retreating any further, an almost desperate action. "Roxas," he breathed once again, drawing his other hand to brush the bangs from the blond's eyes and to comb his fingers through those precious spikes. He simply drank in the sight before him… brilliant blue like woah, _blue_, eyes, wild hair, features that looked so much like his other, but were exceptionally different in their own right. The face that he had spent all that time memorizing, whether the blond was asleep or awake, furious or numb. It was Roxas, it was-

"XIII…" The number sprang to his lips, as if it had countless times before. That expression before him changed from one of fright to gradual hopeful wonder. The most overwhelming sense of… peace overcame Axel. The blond was no longer lost on a journey that had no answers to give, he was no longer lost within someone who was his other, but was the complete opposite of him in so many ways.

It was Roxas and he was _back_. He pulled the blond to him, crushing his lips to his own, quite a bit smoother than their first time, back when they were heartless beings with a dream of more.

But this time they _did_ have more.

A grin spread to Axel's ink-stained cheeks as he looked at the still bewildered blond. "We have hearts; do you want to feel?"

Disbelief flashed across cerulean eyes, a hint of hope shadowed by fear of being wrong. "You- you remember?" He whispered cautiously, the corners of his mouth turning up ever so slowly.

It broke into a wide grin with Axel's next words. "I remember enough."

"Yeah?" A twinkle of amusement flashed across Roxas' face. "What's our boss' name?"

"You talking about The Superior or Ciddie-Widdie?" There was no response needed. No words were required. Roxas seemed to melt with relief before he threw himself upon Axel's lips, eagerly pressing his tongue at his mouth, not so gently asking for entrance. The redhead admitted him and made his own way into the blond's own silky cavern that tasted so _familiar_.

Axel growled in an almost animalistic way, slyly grinning against Roxas' lips, flipping the blond beneath him in one fluid motion, throwing back the scratchy hotel covers with another movement, and swooping down upon Roxas once more. Long fingers used to typing on a keyboard instead of fighting with chackrams drifted down the flushed blond's torso, blue looking up with apprehension and desire. They dove under his thin night shirt, teasing at his sides and kneading at his lower stomach, which moved ever so slightly with the motion. The process of removing the blond's shirt was an almost torturously slow one, Axel drinking in every last moment of it, sweeping down to kiss every last inch of flesh that he revealed.

His eyes fell to a dark stain on Roxas' hip. Axel honed in, pulling back the elastic band of the blond's boxers just enough to reveal the tattoo.

A single chackaram with the center rods turned to form an VIII and a XIII.

Axel paused his ministrations to just stare at the tattoo on Roxas' hip.

"I designed it myself," Roxas explained softly. Green met smiling blue. "Proof that I belong to you and always have."

Axel snickered, pressing a kiss to the symbol. "I'm so flattered." He moved on to more tender flesh, working his way up the younger's body. After what felt like an eternity and a half, the shirt was pulled over blond spikes and tossed to the floor. Slender arms were thrown around the redhead's neck, pulling him down to meet his lips once more as Roxas arced up to pull their bodies together. It took the blond a fraction of the time to remove Axel's undershirt, which quickly joined the other article of clothing on the carpeted floor.

Roxas hooked a leg around Axel's, effectively forcing him to crash down upon the blond. He let out a satisfied moan, rolling his hips against the redhead's crotch. They moved as though their last time together hadn't been a lifetime ago. It was familiar, but all the more enticing. Blunt nails clawed at Axel's naked and damp back, causing another growl to erupt deep in his chest, their mouths doing their best to remember everything about the other. The redhead snaked a hand down to Roxas' lower back, fingers dipping underneath the waist of the boxers, massaging the tender flesh.

Axel's teeth dug into Roxas' lower lip, drawing out a gasp. The blond nibbled his upper lip in response, eyes glinting mischievously. By sheer might or just steel-minded determination, the blond flipped Axel over, settling nicely on top of him. Thrown off by the sudden movement, Axel stared up at the intern in bewilderment. That expression was wiped clean as Roxas began his slow descent, kissing and nipping his way down to the hem of Axel's own boxers.

A sudden explosion of feeling engulfed him as Roxas went to work on his arousal, tongue working wonders as nimble fingers pumped at his shaft. It felt… more amazing than Axel could have ever imagined. It was _Roxas_, plain and simple. The redhead felt heat pool in his groin, breathing labored, as the blond continued sucking him off, knowing exactly where to touch and how, easily sending Axel over the edge. But right before Axel couldn't hold it in any longer, the wet, hot mouth left his arousal.

Axel tried to catch his breath, sucking in air at a rapid rate. "Fuck, I almost-"

Darkened lust-filled blue eyes appeared before him, the silky voice matching them perfectly. "We're not done here, VIII." When Axel looked, both his and Roxas' boxers had been discarded. Soft lips were working at his neck once more.

Axel swallowed thickly. "That was my number."

Roxas hummed affirmatively, turning it into an almost hungry sound. "The Flurry of Dancing flames."

"And you were-"

"The Key of Destiny," Roxas answered for him, whispering it hotly into his ear.

Axel grinned, palms wandering along the blond's sides, his back, his thighs, and back again. "The Keyblade's Chosen One." He laughed, "And Sora was your boyfriend?" Roxas groaned at his neck. "He's practically your twin. You sick little keyblader!" Fingers dug into the back of Axel's neck, catching him off-guard by the surprise pain. Roxas' face appeared above his own, darkness shadowing his expression.

"That was before I remembered everything. No one can regret that stupidity more than me." Bitterness seeped from his words.

Axel cupped the back of the blond's neck, fingers playing with the shorter spikes at the base of his skull. "Hey, I made mistakes too. You were looking for someone to complete you."

A wild grin spread across Roxas' cheeks. "Which is where you come in. So shut up," he drew close, their lips barely brushing against one another, closing the distance between their bodies, "and fuck me."

Roxas found Axel's hand and brought the fingers to his lips, though was stopped before he was able to even open his mouth to receive them. "Wait." Axel paused the moment, blue turning on him questioningly. "Roxas, I don't want this to be like before."

Blond spikes swayed from side to side. "It's not. We have hearts."

Axel snorted in bitter amusement. "I've had too many one night stands to believe that you need a heart for this."

A small smile spread across Roxas' cheeks before he silenced the redhead with a light kiss. "I love you, Axel." Those four words were enough to stop Axel's heart long enough to clear his head from any doubt that had shrouded him before. "I couldn't tell you then, but I can now." A hand snaked down and cupped around his hard-on. "I love you, Axel," he repeated, looking seriously into those green eyes, "and I need you to help me feel."

Axel sucked in a deep breath at the pressure in his groin. "I love you too, Roxas." The words came so… easily. He grinned. "Just promise me that this isn't just another trick being played by DiZ.

Roxas laughed lowly, seductively, removing his hand and grinding his own arousal into Axel's. "Trust me when I say that he is nowhere near here and that this is real. Talking from experience, here."

Axel's fingers were drawn into Roxas' mouth, the tongue swirling around them ever so enticingly. Those fingers were next teasing around the blond's entrance, one by one pressing in, Roxas releasing a pleasured moan at each penetration; music to the redhead's ears after so long of being deprived of it.

The blond, already impatient, pulled himself free of the finger-prepping and immediately plunged Axel into him. The pair each sucked in shocked gasps, the sensations all too familiar and… so new at the same time. He could feel his heart thundering in his chest where it had just sat still before. It was warm… warmth flowed through his veins, and it emanated from the one he only truly cared for. The one who he had killed himself for…

Axel pulled himself up and caught Roxas' lips with his own, needing more, desiring more, _desperate_ for more. It was a comforting act that eased the blond's tensed muscles and met the redhead's demands for _more_. Slowly – ever so slowly – he started to move, pumping up and down on Axel's shaft. The redhead sat back, eyes glazed over with the pure sensation, the sight of his lover of his past life a beautiful one before him.

It didn't take long until they were both desperately gasping and moaning, moving in perfect sync with the other. In the moments before their climax, they were enfolded in the other's arms, Roxas straddling Axel as he moved, crying out as his prostate was hit repeatedly.

Axel spilled himself into Roxas, the blond following shortly afterwards. They rode out their orgasms, gasping the other's name before collapsing onto the mattress. Hot breaths were consumed by the darkness pressing in all around them as they fought to catch their breath. Roxas rested his forehead against Axel's shoulder, the heavy beating of his heart in perfect harmony with his own. He felt like the piece of himself that had been missing was filled. He was finally complete, after a life and a half of waiting for something more.

The momentary silence, broken only by the steady beats, was pierced when Roxas lifted and lowered his hips once more. Axel released a strangled moan at the continued movement, a tongue slowly circling one of his perked nipples, hot breaths flowing over his chest, sticky with the blond's cum.

"Roxas…" he moaned, glancing down at the wild disarray of blond spikes before him.

The blond, moving on to lightly kissing his sternum, and questioned breathily, "What is it?" His hips continued to move steadily up and down, though less energetically than before.

"I've missed this," Axel replied softly.

Bright blue appeared before him. "I told you I'd be waiting."

Axel grinned softly. "Took me a bit longer, hmm?" In response, Roxas thrust himself down on the redhead, the blond crying out softly as his prostate was hit once more, causing Axel to squirm with longing and lust beneath him, needing more. _More_.

Roxas smirked. "I'm not complaining."

The redhead shook his head, "No – no, I'm not either." Roxas paused his movements, and Axel noticed the blond's muscles shaking from exhaustion. A devious glint filled the redhead's eyes and he flipped them over, turning the tables in his favor, drawing the blond's arms above his head and pressing his hands into the pillow above him. "My turn," Axel growled, and began a steady thrusting, Roxas arcing and receding to match his movements, lacing their fingers together.

Roxas moaned, digging his fingernails into the back of Axel's hands. The redhead hissed and released the blond from his hold, the no longer captivated arms were thrown around his neck, fingers tangling in the gravity-defying spikes. Axel trailed a hand down the blond's chest and to his groin, where it took fast hold of his shaft and began pumping it to the same beat as his thrusts.

The blond cried out at the dual sources of extreme ecstasy. Axel panted heavily over Roxas, glazed, lust-filled eyes melting into equally dazed blue. They were feeling; there was some kind of unseen connection that had never been breached before.

They both came for the second time that night, each reaching their orgasms at the same time, Axel into Roxas and Roxas into Axel's waiting hand. Blue eyes followed the redhead's every movement as he brought his soiled hand to his lips and began to steadily lick and clean the creamy substance from his fingers.

He dove into Roxas' open and gasping mouth, tongues eagerly twisting about the other, sticky cum mingling between their working lips. Axel swept the other's mouth clean before swallowing the salty-sweet liquid thickly, humming – almost purring – as he did so.

"You taste like sea salt ice cream," Axel wondered aloud gently.

Roxas swept his tongue over his bottom lip, looking up at the redhead thoughtfully. "You're a bit spicy, if my memory serves me correctly. But I'm not about to test it since you've been all up my ass this whole time."

"Understandable," Axel purred, slowly pulling himself out of the blond with a soft hiss before climbing off of him and settling down on the mattress beside him. Roxas turned on his side to face the redhead, wincing slightly as he did so. Axel cupped the back of his head and brought their foreheads gently together. "You doing alright?"

"Yeah," Roxas replied softly, "it's just been a while."

Axel hummed and pressed a chaste kiss on the blond's lips, brushing his bangs from his eyes. "I'll make it go away." The hand cupping Roxas' head snaked down to his lower back and began a gentle, circling massage. He winced once, but slowly relaxed into it, pulling his arm to rest on Axel's waist.

The previous Flurry of Dancing Flames, currently the Assistant Manager to Cid Highwind, let out a much contented sigh. "It _is_ better."

Bright blue met green. "When what?"

A rare, peaceful smile overcame the redhead. "When you have a heart." Roxas nodded in agreement before letting out a yawn. "It's late," Axel noted, quite unnecessarily.

Roxas hummed in agreement. "And we have a few more seminars tomorrow before our flight."

Axel groaned and grimaced at the thought. "Damn those. They're almost worse than The Superior's talks. And Cid's, now that I mention it."

The blond chuckled as Axel reached up and pulled the covers over them. "I think Xemnas is my dad's boss."

"That's just creepy," the redhead stated as Roxas curled closer to his chest, Axel receiving him and folding him into a tired but warm embrace.

There was silence for a moment, the rhythm of their hearts pulsing the only music they needed.

Roxas broke the tranquil moment with a soft question. "We have hearts now, hm?"

Axel hummed affirmatively, placing a kiss upon the blond's brow. "I love you, Roxas."

"Love you, too."

The pair sunk to darkness, but this time, there was a light to look forward to and warmth to guide them, shadows no longer obscuring their path, and their long-empty chests had hearts to share.

--

**End Notes: **I tried to make it not-so-sappy and I hope that I pulled it off. Tell me what you think!

I'm thinking one more chapter should polish this one up. But that could be flexible, depending on what I come up with. Damn, now that I wrote that, I've started coming up with all these ideas. We'll see.


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's Note: **Sorry about the wait, my darlings! I had a bitch of a cold and a three day fever, so that's why I didn't write. Good excuse, eh? Anyhow, I decided to allow the plot bricks to take over my brain and not have this be the final chapter. Aren't you happy?! YAY! Well, you get some fluff in celebration. Enjoy.

-- --

Chapter 15

--

Sunlight filtered through the halfway parted curtains that matched the bedspread and the chair upholstery to the nth degree. It was far too bright for that early in the morning, if one were to ask a certain exhausted redhead. But then again, nothing would be able to dampen his morning-after glow. To him, the curtains were the most beautiful thing in the world. Besides a certain blond, that is.

"He visited you, didn't he?"

Axel glanced up from digging through his suitcase, dressed in a fresh pair of boxers, soaking in the rays of sunlight streaming through the window. "Who?"

Roxas, who was likewise in his underclothes, including a white undershirt, clarified without turning away from his own luggage. "_Axel_."

The redhead chuckled darkly as the intern inspected one of his many black and white ties. "Oh yeah, _him_. Yeah, he visited me alright."

Blue finally turned towards him, after they had been avoiding Axel since they had rolled out of bed. The redhead wasn't the only one with a certain glow about him. "What did he do to you?"

Axel hesitated for a moment, recalling the incident. "He… burned me alive."

Roxas let out an explosive laugh, almost too loud for the early morning. "He _would_."

"Well, what did _Roxas_ do to you?" Axel crossed his arms cockily.

The blond rolled his eyes and shoved a hand through his spikes. "He pretty much bludgeoned me mercilessly with the keyblades and made it very clear about how weak he thought I was."

"Why, 'cause you hadn't found me yet?" Axel allowed a smirk to overcome him.

The intern simply shook his head. "I think he was talking to himself. I picked up that he wanted me to not be stupid and weak like he was." Sincere blue rounded on green. "And I won't be, if I can help it."

Axel grinned. "Good, because I'm following _Axel_'s advice and never letting you go." He dove into his suitcase once more and brought out his last clean suit and draped it over the top of the comfy chair. He turned back to the blond. "Want to shower?"

Roxas cocked an eyebrow at the proposal, just a little bit skeptical. "Isn't it a little early for that?"

"For what you're thinking of, yeah." The redhead slowly made his way across the carpet, towards the intern, who turned away with a snort of laughter.

"Then what do you have in mind?"

Axel took advantage of the blond's turned back and grabbed him around his waist, burying his nose in the blond spikes. "I need a shower." He took in the sweet scent that laced the intern, "And I need to be with you."

Roxas let out another small laugh. "What turned you into such a sap?"

A hand moved up towards his chest and rested on the blond's sternum, a steady rhythm playing under his fingertips. "Must be this."

The intern pressed into the embrace. "Just don't stop being your badass self because of it."

"Oh, no worries on that point," Axel growled softly, "I can still be my old sexy devil."

Roxas broke away from Axel and turned to face him. "Sure, I'll take you up on the shower offer."

"It saves water." The redhead winked, the blond rolled his eyes, and the pair made their way to the bathroom. Once the door was shut behind them, they were simultaneously shocked by the sudden chill. For some odd reason, the bathroom hadn't been heated as the rest of the hotel room had, which left the two business men shivering in their boxers. Axel took the initiative and cranked up the hot water on the shower.

Green rounded on the blond, a comment on thin lips faltering as Roxas pulled his undershirt over his head in one fluid motion. He smirked slyly before removing the remainder of his clothing and slipping behind the curtain and into the cascade of steaming water.

Axel chuckled quietly at that, shaking his head as he stripped himself, preparing to follow the intern.

"Hey, Axel, could you get my shampoo?" A call echoed from the shower, "It's in the bag on the counter."

"Right, the one that matches everything else you own." Green rounded on the mentioned bag, a brief memory of the first night washing over him. Roxas digging through it to find a painkiller for his killer headache. That expression of… almost longing, _pleading_ when he returned from the bathroom. How long had Roxas known…?

"That's the one," Roxas responded as Axel rifled through the bag's contents, his mind buzzing with thought and question as the gentle hum of water falling from a body echoed in the tiled room. Toothbrush, razor, an extra bar of soap, tissues, a bottle of lube, a pack of condoms, and black eyeliner. Axel had to chuckle at the last three items, especially since he had them in his own bathroom bag as well, except Axel had red eye shadow as well. He dug around a bit more and fished out the neon green travel-sized shampoo bottle.

Axel, still freezing his ass off, swiftly snuck into the shower with bottle in hand, discerning the turned back of the blond through the thick steam. The water instantly de-spiked his locks, red flowing down to his shoulders as the scorching water pounded on his back. An arm slung around the damp blond's shoulder, a hand pressing to his chest as the other snaked around his waist, offering the shampoo.

Roxas grabbed the bottle, sinking into the embrace without missing a beat, as if he were expecting and anticipating every move the redhead made. "Thanks."

"My pleasure," Axel replied silkily behind Roxas' ear.

The blond squeezed a dollop of shampoo into palm. "I expect you'll want some next?"

Green eyes flashed and Axel growled, "Yes please," pressing a little closer to the petit pre-business man before him.

Roxas turned towards the redhead slyly, blue eyes narrowed softly - invitingly. "Axel, you are such a pervert." He shoved the bottle into the redhead's hand.

"Talk about Duh with a capitol 'D.'" He repeated the intern's actions and set the bottle aside, the pair lathering the soap into their damp locks simultaneously. Axel reached over to Roxas and kneaded his fingers in with the blond's working hands, massaging the shampoo into his scalp. Roxas blinked water from his eyes and laughed sweetly, returning the favor. The water cascaded down on them, rinsing the soap out, fingers still tangled in the other's hair. Lips blindly searched for the other as they squeezed their eyes shut against the soap, meeting after a few tries. Hands left blond and trailed down the petit chest to Roxas' waist, mouths working softly against each other, not minding the bitterness of the shampoo. The remainder of the suds washed from their hair and blue and green met, blinking through the streams of water rippling down their faces as their lips were released gently.

Roxas grinned. "It's nice to not have to worry about other members walking in on us."

"I thought you never cared about that," Axel pressed softly as the blond pulled away in search of the bar of soap. He rubbed it along the length of his arms.

"I did, I just never really knew that I did." He finished soaping up the rest of his body.

Axel chuckled, "That's not confusing." A grinning blond turned towards him and pressed the soap into his hand, continuing to rub the suds into his skin. Axel looked from the bar of soap to the blond, a mock skeptical expression on his face. "What, no loofah?" He soaped up, catching the roll of blue eyes.

"Oh, suck it up." Roxas elbowed the redhead gently, "I thought you hated showers."

Axel hummed affirmatively, "I did. That's why I only took them with you. You made it all worthwhile."

Roxas turned his back on the redhead to hide the flush that spread across his cheeks that had nothing to do with the humidity. "Want to get my back?"

Axel smirked. "Of course." Long fingers traced over flesh; lips finding the soft skin behind Roxas' ear, soap massaged enticingly across his back. He stopped his gentle caress after a few moments, pulling away as Roxas turned to face him.

"Your turn," Roxas instructed, motioning for Axel to face the opposite direction. The redhead smirked and complied, relishing in the soft hands against his back. The motions seized, a question following. "Shit, did I do that to you?"

Axel twisted his head to the side, but still unable to see the blond behind him. "Do what?"

Small fingers traced his back, a slight sting coming from the action. "You've got these huge red claw marks on your back."

"Oh." Axel thought back on the night before, "Um, yeah I guess so." So that's why it had hurt when he had slept on his back. He smirked. "You just couldn't keep your hands off me, could you?"

Roxas scrunched his eyebrows together. "Still. I'll be more careful."

Something snapped in Axel… something primal or instinctual. He flipped around and pulled Roxas to his chest – a desperate motion. His next words had much the same feel. "No, I don't want you to. I want to feel."

Roxas was still for a moment before softly reminding the ex-nobody of one solid fact. "We have hearts now, remember?"

Axel released a breath that he hadn't known he had been holding and melted into a smile. "Oh, right." He softened his grip on the blond, who glanced up to relieved green. "Well, I won't blame you if it happens again."

Roxas grinned. "Sometimes I can't help it."

Axel let out a breathy laugh, "I know. Now, come on. We should get the soap off now or we'll be late for our first seminar."

Roxas scoffed jokingly, lacing his hands behind the redhead's neck. "Wouldn't want to disappoint Mr. Highwind, now would we?"

The redhead smirked deviously, pulling the previous Number XIII closer. "Definitely not. You don't want to be around when he goes on one of his rampages, believe me. Plus, Mister Intern, you have to give a good impression for our new Number I."

They finished up rather quickly and dried off with the overly white and wonderfully soft hotel towels, and after an epic battle over who got to use the hairdryer first, they both headed out to their respective suitcases to suit up for the day. Literally.

Axel glanced over as he fumbled with his tie to see Roxas buttoning up his white collared shirt. "It's a damn awful shame to have to cover up that marvelous body with stiff business clothes."

Roxas finished buttoning and straightened out his collar, tugging his tie around his neck. "I don't always wear suits, you know. I have casual stuff too."

Trimmed red eyebrows shot up in mock surprise. "You don't say?" He put on an amused smirk. "I can't wait for Ciddie-Widdie to start up casual Fridays."

Roxas sauntered over and tugged the tie from Axel's hands, undoing the knot and starting to tie it anew. "Or we could just hang out outside of work."

"Outside?" The redhead's needy fingers found their way beneath the blond's un-tucked shirt and yet-to-be-zipped pants, caressing his lower waist. "How scandalous!"

The intern smirked, tugging on the freshly tied tie, bringing Axel to his level. "Oh shut up." Their lips collided once more, each one pressing deeper into the other's mouth.

000

Engines roared above their heads and rattled the ceiling to floor windows that the pair sat beside, the late afternoon sun beating down on the runway outside; Traverse Town bustling along on the horizon. A gummi ship taxied onto the runway visible from the window, wide blue eyes following its every move. It sped up on the black pavement and took flight, slowly rising into the sky.

Green glanced over at the blond, who sat with a stiff back, steadily tapping toe, and white-knuckled clenched fist as his seldom-blinking eyes stared out the window. Axel put on a small worried smile and placed his carry-on bag to the side before turning his full attention towards the on-edge blond.

"Roxas," he addressed the intern gently. When he didn't respond, he placed his hand atop Roxas' clenched fist. Blue eyes darted to the contact before raising up and meeting softly concerned emerald. His breathing was shallow and sharp. Axel pried open the blond's fist and was able to lace their fingers together. "Roxas, we're not even in the gummi yet."

"I know," Roxas replied lowly through clenched teeth, looking away in shame. He let out a sigh before laughing darkly. "I think I liked it better when I was in control of my own transportation. When I could just think and," he stretched out his unoccupied hand, as if summoning a dark portal, "it would open." His hand fell back uselessly.

Axel cupped his hand under Roxas' chin and turned his head so that their eyes met. "I'd take a heart over that power any day."

Roxas was forced to laugh softly. "You really did turn into a sap."

A dark and mischievous grin overcame Axel and he leaned in close, pressing his forehead to the blond's. "Do you want to go a round in the bathroom?"

Blue eyes widened before darkening with lust. "Yes, _please_."

The pair was very lucky that the airport wasn't all that busy and thus, neither was the men's restroom. Axel found it rather impossible to keep the blond quiet enough to not be suspicious as he had him sandwiched between the stall door and himself, taking him from behind. They both choked down moans as best they could, every sound echoing endlessly in the empty tiled room. The intern choked out Axel's name as he came to his climax, the redhead following suit shortly after.

They sucked in desperate breaths in the moments following, Axel pulling out of Roxas and the pair cleaning up. The blond fell into the other business man's arms, allowing Axel to dig deep into his mouth and search its depths.

He pulled out after a few long moments and chuckled, the sound reverberating in his no longer hollow chest. "Just like old times." Roxas smiled sweetly before him, his lips red and kiss-swollen. Another kiss was pressed to his brow and Axel withdrew just slightly. "So, are you ready to face your fears?"

Roxas let out a breathy laugh. "As long as I can zip up my pants first. But even then, I'll still be scared shitless."

Axel pressed his lips to the intern's briefly. "Well, you'll have your Flurry of Dancing Flames to protect you."

Blue eyes were rolled. "Come on, you sap, or we'll miss our flight."

--

**End Notes: **Hey peeps, you should review more. I'll give away my super special secret recipe double chocolate chip cookies if you do! Come on, that is far better than brownie points. I need ego boosters and whatnot!

PS: I'm talking about giving away the COOKIES, not the secret recipe. Um, yeah.


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's Note: **Sorry about the wait, peeps! School has been kicking my ass lately and I haven't been inspired… etc. So yeah. I put some of my angst from the past election into here. Why am I angsting? My state just banned gay marriage. Isn't that just peachy? Yeah. It fucking sucks. On a happier note, Obama is the new president elect! Yay!

Okay, enough politics. Go read the chapter.

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Chapter 16

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"Roxas, stop fidgeting; they'll think you're trying to smuggle shit or something." Green eyes were affixed to the blond, who had been constantly shifting since they first sat down in their seats, Roxas beside the window and Axel taking the aisle seat.

Blue turned on the redhead, a multitude of emotions playing across the cerulean orbs. "My ass fucking hurts and I have you to thank for it. So if they come over here, I have you to thank for it."

Axel winced guiltily. "Sorry, Rox." The blond took a stiff hand and loosened the tie around his neck, not responding to the apology. The redhead decided to try and appease his partner. "I've got some painkillers if you want them."

A pained grin overcame Roxas. "I thought you'd never ask." The god-made pills were fished out and quickly swallowed just as the gummi ship rolled into motion on the runway, the blond stiffening as it did so.

"It was worth it, right?" Axel questioned cautiously, eyes only for the jittery blond.

Roxas chuckled softly, shaking his head. "You have no idea."

"So why don't you tell me?" Axel pried a bit further, an uncertain smile upon his lips.

The mirthless upturn of the intern's lips remained as he elaborated for the redhead. "I will someday, in a blind rage just to make you feel like shit with guilt and pity."

Green widened in surprise. "It was that bad?" And here he thought that having those wet dreams all that while had been bad…

Roxas' gaze slipped down and away as he replied with a soft, "Yeah."

"Shit," was the only response Axel thought appropriate.

Cerulean eyes returned to emerald, a sparkle deep within them that Axel had yet to see before that moment. "But it's okay now. We found each other, all the rest doesn't matter anymore." The gummi lurched into motion, pressing the pair back into their seats as it accelerated down the runway. "Shit," Roxas hissed out, eyes clenched shut, "why do these things have to be so fucking-" The blond jumped as a hand fell over his own.

"Roxas," Axel crooned over the roaring of the engines, slowly lacing their fingers together and giving the blond's hand a reassuring squeeze, "it's just like walking through a dark portal; you have to get used to it."

They were in the air and blue eyes widened as the horizon disappeared in the window. "But I can't control this. Just one thing can go wrong and that's _it_."

"At least I can't blow it up with my pyro abilities," Axel chided, nudging Roxas gently.

"Axel…" The redhead sobered instantly when he felt the blond's hand quiver in his own, his shoulders shaking and blue eyes impossibly wide. The way he said his name was almost a plead, the way his voice wavered. He jumped as the landing gear was taken up and clunked into place, starting to shake worse than before.

"Roxas," ex-Number VIII whispered, hushing the blond gently as he squeezed his hand reassuringly, "Roxas, it's alright."

The intern buried his face into Axel's shoulder, who in turn twisted to fully receive him in as comforting an embrace as the confined airline chairs were able to provide the space for. Axel continued whispering reassuring words to the blond, holding him until the shivers long stilled.

000

Twilight Town was… just how Axel remembered it, plus or minus a few minor buildings. He figured seeing it, though Roxas' eyes, was like looking back at a prison built to hold him in a fake heaven. To the redhead, it was a twisted place where the only one he had ever cared about had been held hostage and brainwashed. And where he had disappeared… where he had seen him for the last time, when he couldn't even remember his best friend.

"You remember it now?" Roxas' soft question broke through Axel's rampaging thoughts.

Axel pressed away from the window of the airport, overlooking the small town, letting out a disbelieving sigh. "I can't believe I ever forgot."

A small hand hooked about the redhead's elbow. "Yeah, it was the first place where I whooped your ass. You were the one who told me not to forget it." For a guy who had been traumatized for the previous two hours, Roxas seemed to be holding up pretty well now that they had been on the solid ground for a good ten minutes. He did seem to be coping with being back in Twilight Town a hell of a lot better than the redhead.

Axel glanced slyly at the intern hanging off of his arm. "That's only because you were a rash and devious little Nobody."

Blue eyes narrowed tauntingly. "You're just mad that I can dominate you."

"Have you forgotten whose ass hurts?" A wicked grin flashed across Axel's face. "I always come out on top. I would have thought that you had that memorized by now."

"That'll change," the blond growled seductively into Axel's ear, "I hope you have _that_ memorized."

The businessman returned the look. "Looking forward to it." Axel wasn't quite sure how this dominant Roxas came about, whether it was left over from their previous life, from his current past, or just the shock of gummi travel. All he knew was that it was a major fucking turn on to have his partner fighting back.

Roxas pulled away with a mischievous grin. "We have a few hours until our next flight, right?"

"Yeah?" What the hell was he going with this?

The blond stepped to the window. "As far as I know, the clock tower is still there." He turned to the redhead. "I think that we should pay the old place a visit."

Soon they were out of the extremely small airport and climbing up an obscenely long and drawn out stone staircase that coiled up inside the clock tower, Axel bitching and complaining the entire way up.

At some point, near the top, Roxas stopped dead in his tracks and turned on the redhead, who was bare inches away from crashing into the blond and was barely able to catch himself before their skulls crashed into one another.

Before the redhead was able to put in a snarky comment, the intern shot out a sharp request. "Axel, I know that it's shit that we can't just use a dark portal, but would you please _shut up_ until we get up there? Need I remind you that you weren't the one who got your ass assaulted repeatedly?"

Axel simply grinned in response. "Why didn't you just say so?" Large hands wrapped around the petit waist and the blond was thrown over his shoulder. The current sack of potatoes let out a most manly squeak of surprise as he desperately tried to reach for something to grab on to without throwing the business man off balance. Axel adjusted Roxas into a more comfortable position, growling, "I've been waiting for an excuse to bodily grab you for a few days now." He started up stairs once again, the blond surprisingly receptive to being carried. "Don't worry, you'll have a chance to inhibit me from walking soon enough. You just have to fight damn hard for it."

Roxas adjusted himself just slightly. "I'm more powerful than you are, VIII, need I remind you?" He might have been, back then, with the power of light. But without them… he was just like the flimsy Number XIII, vulnerable without his keyblades.

Axel chuckled as they approached the last stretch of stairs, setting the blond down softly before wrenching open the door and revealing the orange burst of a new sunset. Green touched with the fire of the sky turned on glowing blue. "I always enjoy a struggle."

The pair soon found themselves perched on the edge of the clock tower ledge, the hands steadily ticking away below their dangling feet. It felt more than a little nostalgic, sitting where they hadn't been since a lifetime ago, before any of the shit started that eventually tore them apart.

They sat in contemplative silence, as they had so many times done in another life. The seemingly perpetual twilight hung over the town that hadn't grown much over the many years that their spirits had been dormant.

The redhead laughed softly, drawing the attention of the intern – such a different person in his collared shirt and loose tie than he was in his black coat – and he produced a line from his memory that he had said on a day just like that all that time ago. "You know why the setting sun is red? Out of all the colors, red light has the longest wave length and travels the furthest."

"Stop showing off, Axel," Roxas replied softly, a small yet victorious and relieved smile spread across his face.

Axel returned the sentiment, shaking his head. It was nice to remember. "You said that you used to live here. Did you mean back then or in this life?"

The light look dropped from the blond as his expression sobered. "Both, kind of. I grew up here, then my father moved to Hollow Bastion right before my freshman year of high school. It was for work, so I had to go with him." There was his fucking dad again…

Axel fully turned to the intern, one foot firmly planted on the cement floor below the ledge they were perched upon, the other dangling over the edge. The trimmed eyebrows furrowed and he asked the blond in a deep and questioning tone, "Roxas, what the hell is up with your dad? You're always talking about how he controls your life and screws you over." It sounded just like-

"Would you believe me if I told you that he's DiZ?"

Axel could have sworn that time stopped and the temperature dropped a few ten degrees. "Holy shit. You're kidding."

Roxas only smiled bitterly, eyes still looking out at the burning gold horizon. "What better way to keep on controlling me and making my life Hell? Because he obviously didn't do enough damage in my past life. As far as I know, he doesn't remember."

Green eyes were impossibly wide as Axel leaned closer to the blond, as if getting closer would allow him to fucking _understand_ what the hell was going on. "How haven't you _murdered_ him yet?"

Ex-Number XIII let out a dark chuckle. "I was tempted once or twice when I started remembering. Now I just kind of grit my teeth and bear it."

Axel scoffed sharply, scowling at the world in general. "I might not be so gentle."

"I wouldn't expect you to be," came the soft response, Roxas glancing out of the corner of his eye.

The sharp look was turned on the blond. "He fucking stole your memories and brainwashed you. Not to mention the fact that he forced you to merge with Sora."

Roxas shrugged submissively, looking down at his dangling feet. "Can't rape the willing."

Holy fuck, was he serious? "But you said that you went insane and faded away after you merged with him," Axel pressed, wanting something _more_ out of the blond than just his bland responses. He needed for him to feel, to show _some_ kind of emotion…

"Yeah, but I did want answers. My mistake," he ended, spitting out the words bitterly.

Axel sighed. At least it was _some _kind of emotional response_. _"I would say something like it wasn't your fault, but… you did kind of screw us over."

Roxas groaned, burying his head in his arms, which he wrapped around his knees as he drew them to his chest. A strange laugh laced his words, almost pained. "Fuck, I _know_ that. I spent whatever time I had in Sora's damned head confirming how fucking _stupid_ I was." The chuckle turned to a sob that the blond desperately tried to choke down, his shoulders shaking from the effort to still the wave that overcame him.

The redhead froze. In all of his time at the Organization and throughout all of the memories that he had recalled, Axel couldn't think of another time when Number XIII had looked so… vulnerable. Fuck, he didn't even believe that it was possible for the blond to cry, but here he was, on the brink of an emotional breakdown.

"Roxas…" When the name didn't catch his attention, Axel placed a hesitant hand on the intern's shoulder and continued. "Hey, I'm still here. That has to say something, right?"

He tried to laugh, but the sound only came out as a strangled whimper. "Yeah, that you haven't remembered everything."

Axel would be damned if he gave up that easily. "And what if I have?"

Roxas stilled, head turning slowly to the intent redhead, tears pooled in the blue, blue orbs. A sad smile worked its way across his cheeks. "Then you're fucking stupid. _I _wouldn't even stay with myself if I were in your position."

"Then you're obviously not me." Roxas stared intently into intense emerald eyes, waiting for him to go on. Axel sighed in exasperation before continuing. "Roxas, you don't know what I did to try and keep you safe. Everything I did in Castle Oblivion… that was for _you_, no matter what the hell I told you. You didn't _see_ me after you left. I lost any conscience that I ever might have possessed. And you know what?" Roxas cringed before crying out in surprise as Axel grabbed a handful of his collar and yanked him forward forcefully. Tear-filled blue eyes sunk into smoldering green as the redhead growled, "_I'm still here._"

Roxas choked back a sob and proceeded to throw his arms around Axel's neck, burying his face in his shoulder. The redhead received him without question, folding him into a secure embrace as silent sobs overtook the blond. Small hands clawed and grabbed at Axel's back, needing to know that he was really there and not just another illusion. Axel lost track of how many times the minute hand clicked into a new position as he held the previous Key of Destiny.

When the blond's shoulders long stopped to shake and he took control over his erratic breathing, he choked out, exhausted, "As much as I love feeling, I wouldn't be so sorry to go back to numb right about now."

"I would," Axel crooned. "Nothing could make me want to go back. I'm tired of being gray."

Roxas let out a single breathy laugh. "You were always better at hiding your lack of emotion."

"It was always for you," the redhead mumbled into blond spikes before dislodging the intern from his death-hold. "We should be heading back. Don't want to disappoint good old Superior by making him pay for another set of flights."

The blond groaned and swung his legs back onto the ledge, rubbing the heel of his palm across his eyes. "Don't even mention those fucking flying death machines."

Axel grinned and stood, offering a helping hand down to his partner. "Come on, _Key_, we have to get going."

Roxas snorted out a laugh. "Fuck off, _Flurry_." But he took the business man's hand and together, they made their way back to the airport.

**End Notes: **I just realized that the song "My Heart Will Go On" from the Titanic pretty much sums up Axel and Roxas – especially in this fic. Haha. Review, my lovelies! Next chapter: You get delicious DEMYX!


	17. Chapter 17

**Author's Note:** Oh my God. I'm so sorry for the wait. I've just been so swamped with school crap and when I have had time, I've been playing the Sims 2 like there's no tomorrow. Oh, by the way, I have a deliciously dorky AkuRoku Sims 2 video that I made. There's a link to it on the bottom of my profile page. I'll remind you at the end of the chapter, which is a bit longer than I expected it to be. So, without further ado, I give you the long awaited… DEMYX!!

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Chapter 17

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It was well past sunset as they landed in Traverse Town, the nightlife already bustling as the sky opened up and soaked all who dared tread under it. The two businessmen were able to flag down a taxi cab before they got too incredibly drenched and thus saved their suits from a trip to the drycleaners. They piled in after dumping their damp luggage in the trunk and the blond relayed the information of how to get to his house to the driver. The car lurched into motion, jarring the more than slightly jet-lagged pair.

The entire trip was spent in silence, though there wasn't an inch of discomfort between the two. They simply sat in their respective seats, trying their best not to fall asleep as their hands were clasped loosely on the cushion between them. It was far too short of a trip to Roxas' house… mansion, really. The cab pulled to the curb and the driver hopped out in order to open the trunk for the intern to retrieve his lovely matching luggage.

Roxas moved to pull away and open the door to leave, but was tugged back and pulled into a quick kiss by the redhead. It was hasty and sloppy, but it would have to hold him over.

"I'll see you at work tomorrow," Axel promised, giving the precious hand one more squeeze.

The blond flashed a quick smile before pressing his lips to one of Axel's tattoos. "Wouldn't miss it." He was gone the next moment, the door slamming behind him as he scuttled around the back of the taxi and pulled his bags from the back. Emerald eyes watched their partner as he ran up the insanely expensive-looking driveway and eventually disappeared behind the front door. He almost didn't catch the cab driver's request for his destination in his desperate search for the blond even after the door had long shut.

The drive to Axel's apartment was a lonely one. His hand felt cold and barren without Roxas' to keep it warm and alive. He paid the driver with company money and retrieved his bag from the trunk in a blind haze. He wasn't entirely sure if it was brought upon by the insane couple of days he had endured or if it was sleep deprivation induced. His exhausted mind settled on a lot of both.

He punched in the code in order to enter the apartment complex building and was seriously considering hunkering down on the stairs and sleeping on his luggage until morning. But then he remembered the last time he had seen someone pull that stunt, and he really wasn't looking forward to getting his face marked up by those fucking runaway teenage punks who lived on the floor below his own. So, he dolefully made his way up to his floor, lugging his increasingly heavy bag with him, until he found himself before his door. It took him a moment to find his key and to unlock the bastard of a knob which never really felt like working when he really wanted it to.

The tiny apartment was just as lonely as he had left it, only now more so that he didn't have Roxas with him. Axel would have laughed at himself for being such a sentimentalist, but he was dead tired at the moment. He dumped his bags on the floor beside the couch – which was more of a loveseat, really – and stumbled around and collapsed face down on said comfy furniture. He had only a few minutes of peace before his phone started rocking out in his back pocket.

Axel groaned and dug his cell out and glanced at the screen. A second groan. Demyx. He flipped open the phone and was bombarded by the voice of his best friend.

"Hey, Ax! How was your flight? Or I guess it was a few flights. Where was your transfer? Any place cool or unusual? Oh man, I bet you had such a horrible time. I feel so deprived of my best friend. A whole week! I didn't think I could survive, but here I am!"

Axel, after having only picked up maybe half of what the overly energetic blond had rattled on about, he responded with a simple tired, "Hey Dem."

Demyx disregarded his friend's tone and continued on. "Yeah, hey, so I'm coming over, okay?"

Oh, how fucking perfect. Nothing like a hyper-active ex-Organization member that he really hadn't cared much about in his previous life come over to his house. But then again, they were best friends… "Dem-"

"Great, be there in a few." A distinct click ended their conversation. Axel dropped his phone beside his ear, not bothering to flip it shut, and allowed his eyes to fall shut. He let out a tired groan. Did he really have to pick right then to come over? He was fucking exhausted, physically and emotionally. It wasn't every day that you met your life partner left over from a past life. And he was still sleep deprived from the nights before. Shit, and now Demyx was coming over, and he would be his usual hyperactive self.

In the time that passed between when the musician hung up and the time he knocked on the redhead's door, the apartment renter hadn't moved a muscle. Fuck, he still had the phone clasped shut in his hand beside his ear. The only thing was… the knocking wasn't stopping. It was like rapid fire knocks, possibly some kind of rhythm to a song that the blond had written.

"Just use your fucking key, Dem," Axel called, barely bothering to lift his head so that his best friend would be able to hear him. There was a groan, then a key turned at the knob and the door swung open.

From where Axel was, in his face-down in the cushions state, he couldn't see his best friend walk in the door, but he definitely heard his laugh and everything that the blond spewed out of his overly energetic but still lovable face. "Shit, man, you look like you haven't slept in days."

There was a distinct sound of a coat getting shuffled off and dumped on the floor. "Imagine that."

Demyx sauntered over and suddenly there was an extremely heavy weight on Axel's lower back as he sat on the curve of his best friend's lower back. Axel grunted as the pressure forced half of the air from his lungs. "So, who'd you do? I mean, _what_ did you do?" He chided lightly.

Axel was forced to chuckle. Somehow, Demyx was able to lighten up any situation, no matter what his mood was. "It was a bunch of bullshit. You should be glad that you couldn't go. How was your concert thing?" He thought it best to stay away from the topic as much as possible.

"You mean playing in that loft place above the cute little café?" The blond shifted into a slightly more comfortable position. For him, mostly. Axel was still feeling like he was being put into a vice. "We had a great turnout and got tons of tips, which is always a good thing. But you didn't answer my first question." Shit. Back to that again.

"Demyx…" the redhead gave a half-hearted tired complaint. "Could we please not talk about this?"

The blond put on his serious tone. "Axel, you're the one who mentioned it over the phone. So, what happened? The last I heard, the intern had practically groped you in your sleep." Practically? No, he actually _had_.

Axel sighed and mumbled his response into the overstuffed couch. "His name is Roxas, and yeah, he's kind of good at that."

"So, what happened?" Demyx continued to pry.

The redhead simply sighed and remained silent. He knew he would get it. He could practically feel Demyx's disapproving glare on the back of his head. "Shut up." He pulled his face away from the cushion. "Shut _up_, Dem. Damn it!" He shoved the blond off of him and onto the couch so that he could sit up and face his friend.

Those ocean blue eyes were just as disapproving as he had imagined. "I knew it. I _knew_ this would happen, but did you listen? Oh no, of course not!" Axel pinched the bridge of his nose as his friend continued, leaning intently towards him on the other side of the couch. "What is the intern going to do when you ignore him, like all the rest? Or are you going to tell him that he was a one fuck guy and break his heart?"

Axel couldn't hold it in any longer, and he exploded. "Shut _up_, IX!"

His outburst earned him a highly confused expression. "Nine?" Overly gelled spikes were wagged from side to side. "Whatever you're on…"

"I'm not _on _anything." Axel growled in frustration, tugging at his red locks. "Look, Dem, it's different this time. Plus, when have I _ever_ listened to you?"

Demyx paused for a moment. "When I told you not to jump off the bleachers in gym class in the seventh grade." An accusing finger was pointed at Axel's tattooed face. "And when I told you about your job."

Axel grinned nostalgically. "Right, I have you to thank for that."

Demyx crossed his arms over his chest and continued his disapproving stare. "Regardless, I don't know how the hell you're going to pull this off."

"What, going out with the intern?" Axel challenged.

Demyx went into a full deadpan. Complete with opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of water in search of words to express himself. But when he did find them, he went off and it didn't seem like he would stop. "You're going _out_ with him? Oh, that's peachy. That's against company policy, you know! Plus, you could get him in loads of trouble, not to mention damage the internship program's reputation." Alright, quite enough of that.

"And what about you?" Axel accused the blond in turn. "What's the policy about dating people in other departments?"

"Zexion isn't even a part of our company. Do you even know if the intern is a minor or not?" Axel was more than relieved that Roxas had revealed his age to him far before they had started anything.

"He's not. I'm not _that_ stupid."

Demyx barked out a disbelieving laugh. "Yeah, right. Famous last words."

Green eyes were rolled. "So we won't dry hump each other against the fridge in the break room. Will that appease you?" Axel offered as good of a mock bow as sitting cross-legged on the couch would allow.

The blond scoffed and did his usual large and exaggerated hand motions. "Oh, now there's a huge sacrifice." He switched to a melodramatic tone. "Deprived of break time humping! Oh woe!"

Axel resigned to a stubborn but final, "Stop it, Dem. We'll be careful."

Demyx just laughed. "Yeah, you'd better. I might have a higher position than you, but I can't bail you out if you get caught."

Axel was quite relieved that his friend wasn't accusing him of being a… whatever he though the redhead was being. "He's the coffee boy and he'll deliver messages and papers for me. That's all Roxas is to me inside the office; we've already discussed it." Indeed, they had spent a good while on the second flight talking about their whole 'relationship' and what to do with it. It was just so… new to them to have something between them. They agreed to not deny their relationship to anyone they knew, which was a big leap in itself, and to keep it from Ciddie-Widdie and whoever else might spill the beans to him.

Demyx couldn't help a sly smirk from creeping onto his overly expressive face. "Yeah, anywhere else he's your sex kitten."

Axel grinned widely in return. "You know it!" He gave the blond a playful punch in the side and ignored the indignant noise he received. "Actually, he's more aggressive than you might think," he added on.

The blond comically and quite dramatically shielded his face with his arms to fend off the idea. "Oh God! TMI, Axel!"

"Hey, you said that you wanted all the juicy details, right?"

Blue eyes stared at him. "Yeah, but that was before I knew that you two were going at it. Shit, Axel, I won't be able to sleep for weeks!"

"Oh, I highly doubt that." Demyx coughed indignantly, which turned into a fit of giggles as, Axel was sure, someone ran across his mind. The pair sobered after a moment and Axel struggled out the words that he had been fighting in his head for a good while. "Dem, I think I've found my soul mate."

"About time you noticed me," Demyx joked, a wide grin still splayed across his cheeks.

Axel leaned forward intently and punched his friend again, this time in the shoulder, to catch his attention. "I'm serious, Demyx." The grin dropped from the blond's face and he turned his full attention on his best friend. Axel continued. "It's like… we met in another life and promised that we would find each other again." At least that was part of the truth.

Demyx just stared at him for a moment, trying his best to not crack his serious demeanor as he spoke. "You _do_ know that you sound like a soap opera, right?" He failed at the last moment, and the smile returned in all of its glory.

Axel's jaw dropped. "Me? What about you? Tell me about this Zexion guy and I'll decide whose life is more like a soap." He sat back with his arms crossed before him, as Demyx had done with him, and waited for the story.

A flush spread across the blond's cheeks as he fumbled his long, instrument-loving fingers nervously. "Shit, I should've seen that one coming." He took a deep breath and let it out before continuing. "Well, I told you that he works on the floor below us, right? Well, basically the day you left, our water cooler thing broke down, so we had to go down one floor if we wanted good water, right? So, I went down there to get some water and Zexion was there."

"Shorter or taller?" Axel interjected into the blond's story.

"Shorter."

Axel hummed thoughtfully before posing another important question. "Top or bottom?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Demyx cried out defensively. He slowly looked down and ashamedly mumbled, "Top."

Axel laughed as Demyx continued.

Demyx rolled his eyes at his friend. "So, his desk is right next to the water cooler, right? And I had to go down there a few times a day for a few days, so I decided to talk to him."

"The water machine was broken that long?"

"Of course not, I just kept on using that excuse for going down there. Anyhow, at first he wouldn't talk to me at all, then he started to respond to whatever I was blabbering on about. So, after a few days, I found a note in my box from him asking me out to dinner. It was the night after my concert, so I was free. So we went out to eat." A shy one, Axel deducted. Well, he would have a hell of a time with Demyx's bubbly and amazingly outgoing personality, that was for sure.

"And?" Axel questioned for more information.

"And what?" Demyx shoved up a wall of defense.

Axel continued to pry. "Anything happen?"

Demyx shrugged. "Well, it wasn't a complete bust and we're going to go somewhere else pretty soon. Hey, you can bring the intern! We could have a double date! I've always wanted to have one of those." He chuckled and rolled his eyes as if he was joking about the whole thing.

"I'll have to ask Roxas," Axel replied lightly. Truthfully, he didn't remember much about Zexion and wanted to make sure it was alright and wouldn't be too freaky.

Demyx simply dropped his silly smile and started at the redhead for a moment. "My God, you really _are_ going out with him."

Axel smirked. "And what made you think otherwise?"

Demyx lowered a blond brow and stared intently at his friend once again. "Um, Ax? You're _you_. What about your whole 'never fuck the same guy twice' philosophy?"

The redhead shrugged a shoulder. "I was looking for something, and now I've found it." Simple enough and more than a little true.

Demyx shook his head with a smile of awe. "Good for you, dude."

Axel grinned and shoved at his best friend with a socked foot. "You'll be next, you know."

"I should hope so!" Demyx shoved Axel's foot away as it strayed far too close to his face for his liking. "I've been the one going about it in the _right _way, after all."

"Oh shut up, Dem." Axel shook his head and shoved his free foot into the blond's face, who sputtered and cursed. Before they could get into an all-out foot war, Axel pulled his legs out of captivity. "Okay, I'm kicking you out now. It's late and I'm fucking jet-lagged."

"Don't forget we have work tomorrow," he was reminded once again.

"Yeah, that." No way in fucking Hell was he going to miss it.

Demyx stood and showed his way to the door, grabbing his jacket and shoving his arms through the sleeves as he stepped into his shoes. He opened the door to the hallway of the redhead's apartment and turned back in a final farewell for the night. "Welcome to the wonderful world of monogamy, Ax."

Axel laughed at that. "Yeah, thanks Dem."

"Bye!" The blond called before slamming the door shut behind him.

No matter how tired Axel had been before, it took him a hell of a lot longer to strip out of his suit and get to bed than he thought appropriate. That, and he couldn't get Zexion out of his head. There was something that just _bothered _him about the guy, and he couldn't for the life of him put his finger on what it was. After far too long of staring at the dark ceiling while lying in his bed, he reached over to his nightstand where he kept his desk light, radio alarm clock, bottle of lube, and his cell phone charger, and picked up the phone.

He dialed the number that he had so recently gotten from his partner and punched it in. It took a few more rings than usual before a click and a confused mumble came across the speaker.

"Hey, Rox," Axel greeted gently, his voice quiet.

There was a little shuffling before the groggy blond responded. "_Axel? What the hell?_"

Axel's heart – how he loved that damned thing – dropped into his stomach. "Oh shit, I woke you up."

Roxas groaned on the other side of the phone and mumbled, "_Yeah, just a bit. What's up?_"

"Uhm," he scratched the back of his head uncertainly, "what do you know about Zexion? I can't really remember him that well."

"_Zexion?_" Axel could tell that it took a moment for the blond to wrap his half-asleep mind around the name. "_He died in Castle Oblivion._"

"Holy shit, I killed him, didn't I?" Oh, that was perfectly fantastic. He was going to go on a double date with the guy who he had murdered in a past life. Wouldn't that make a lovely blog entry?

Roxas softened his annoyed and groggy tone. "_How would I know? You never told me what happened there. So, why the sudden question about him? I don't remember seeing him anywhere._"

Axel sighed into the receiver. "He's Demyx's new boyfriend."

Roxas let out a bark a bit too loud for that late at night. "_Finally!_" Axel paused in confusion and the blond continued. "_You don't remember, do you? They practically lusted after each other since before I even joined the Organization. You were the one who clued me in, you know._"

Axel hummed, suddenly realizing how insanely exhausted he was. "Maybe when I see him, I'll remember a bit more."

A wide yawn came from the speaker. "_That'd be nice. Now can I get back to sleep? It's like… shit it's 3 in the morning, Axel. Go to bed. We have to get up in three hours._"

The redhead chuckled softly. "Yeah, see you in four."

"_Yeah, g'night_." Axel snapped the phone shut just after the blond hug up and replaced his cell on the nightstand. He closed his eyes once again. This time, Axel did drift off to sleep, but was once again plagued by dreams that he thought had left him.

---

**End Notes: **Hey, remember that thing about the video that I talked about before? Did I mention that it has Sim smex? Oh yeah. Now you HAVE to go watch it. But before that, click on that nifty new button that says REVIEW first. Yay!


	18. Chapter 18

**Author's Note: **HOLY SHIT. Did I really not update in… more than a month? Wow… sorry about that! Well, I blame it on finals, getting sick (again), the holidays, and being generally lazy. Oh, and Chain of Memories. Damn, Vexen was so hard to beat… freaking twice. UGH. Well, this chapter was brought to you by… sheer determination. Enjoy!

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Chapter 18

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_He had to do it. He had to be killed. It was the only way to win his trust and to ensure the future of his partner in battle. It was the only way to preserve his newly pronounced best friend. The replica the Chilly Academic had created would be the perfect one to do the job. He didn't want to bloody his hands any more than he had to. The petit blue-haired man cowered against the wall as the silver haired fake advanced. Soulless green eyes looked on in apathy as his fellow member was sucked dry and faded into the gray atmosphere of Castle Oblivion._

_It was the only way Roxas would be safe for the time being._

_Darkness overcame him and he appeared in a world of eternal twilight that seared his cold eyes after lurking in the shadows for so long. And there he was – that little black-clothed figure sitting on the edge of the clock tower; that boy whose hair glowed in the endless dimming sun._

_Blue eyes gleamed up at him as the darkness of his portal dissolved into the sky. "Hey," he casually greeted his older partner, who he had just recently decided he was going to finally respect as a mentor and, rather reluctantly, consider a friend._

_Axel continued staring out at the sunset, blank emerald eyes dead to the world. He said nothing._

_Roxas craned his neck to look up into those deceiving eyes. "No words of wisdom today?"_

_The redhead simply shook his head slowly, not daring to meet those cerulean eyes that he longed to preserve._

_His partner shrugged nonchalantly and turned back to the glowing city. "Well, sit down at least. I can't keep twisting my head to look at you when you're back there, you'll give me a crick." A long, silent moment passed._

"_Do we feel pain when we die?" It was a simple question, much alike one that the blond would ask. His tone was heartless and he made no move to join Number XIII. _

_Roxas looked back up at the oddly expressionless redhead. "We feel pain now. Why wouldn't we then?"_

_Axel shook his head and succumbed to sitting on the stone edge beside the Key of Destiny. He stared at his dangling feet and wondered if he would feel himself die if he just… slipped off. "I don't know."_

"_Why did you ask?"_

"_We're nobodies; we don't have hearts." He still couldn't bring himself to look into those blue, blue eyes._ It was the only way. _"That doesn't mean that we can't question ourselves."_

_Roxas forced his way into Number VIII's line of vision, brows brought together gently. "Axel, what's up with you?"_

---

Axel crawled out of his slumber like a sloth climbing up a well it had fallen in. The first thing he came to realize was that his neck was in pain and at an odd angle. And that his pillow was gone. Then the radio blaring a song into his ear came into his senses. He cracked an eye open to the stuffy darkness of his room, the sun casting low rays of light through the window that wasn't all the way covered by his heavy curtain.

He smoothed a hand down the length of his tattooed face and blindly turned off his alarm. Axel marveled in the silence for a moment, letting the idea of waking up sink into his half-asleep mind.

In due time, he swung his legs out of bed and sat on the edge of his mattress, stewing over the dream that had plagued him through the night. So, he really _had_ killed Zexion… Who else had he killed?

That was when he finally looked at the time and realized that, before he had woken up, his alarm had been blaring at him for a good twenty minutes. He released an explosive curse and flew out of bed, proceeding to get ready as fast as his adrenaline-pumped muscles would take him.

He burst into the office at exactly 7:02 and snuck by the cubicles and sat down at his desk in his own private office. He scrambled around, trying to orient himself after a week of being away while the little red light on his phone constantly reminded him of the callers who had been on hold since they had officially opened.

After about an hour of constant badgering from the phone and files that he had to deal with while simultaneously dealing with customers, Axel was ready for a nap. Or a large latte with a few extra shots.

He was on the phone with a particularly needy person who insisted on asking every single question that they could possibly ask and a few that Axel couldn't even answer. And having something that the redhead couldn't answer was a very rare thing. Add that to the fact that he _hated_ it when he didn't know something. Axel was shuffling through miscellaneous papers on his desk, as if the answer to the nitpicky question would just happen to magically appear on one of them, when the door to his office was rattled open. The redhead was too distracted by his searching while listening to the increasingly bitchy caller's nagging to even care who had entered his workspace. Something was set on his desk and there was a slight pause before the footsteps retreated to the door. It was only then, when the door was closing, that Axel tore his gaze away from the files and papers to see the petit blond disappear through the doorframe and out of sight behind his closed blinds.

Axel grabbed the large to-go coffee cup like it was the elixir of life and cherished the warmth of it in his hands, the phone still crushed between his ear and shoulder. A slight marring on the otherwise white surface of the cup caught his eye – a single heart drawn with a plain black ball-point pen.

"Miss, could you hold while I transfer you to someone who could answer your questions? Thank you." He transferred the call over to Demyx and slammed the phone back into its receiver and was up and out of his chair and leaning out of his door in the next second.

He saw the flash of blond hair emerging from one of the higher-up's offices with an empty coffee holder in hand. He called out, in the most disinterested voice he could possibly muster, "Hey temp, I need you for something."

Roxas turned at the odd name his partner had called him, a questioning expression crossing his face. He gave a small shrug and followed Axel into his office, tossing the cardboard carrier into a trashcan on his way and closing the door behind him.

Axel was quick to shove Roxas up against the far corner of his tiny office, wide blue eyes staring up at him in shock. The redhead only grinned savagely and growled into the blond's ear, "I need you to file some papers for me." He pressed himself flush against Roxas' tidy suit-clad body, working his knee between his thighs.

Roxas gave in to a gentle moan, making no move to escape. "I thought we agreed to _not_ do this here." He kept his voice low, just in case any of the cubicle slaves cared to overhear what happened in the eccentric redhead's domain.

Green eyes burned with passion, possibly brought on by extreme lack of sleep. "You pushed me over the edge." He pulled the blond into a needy kiss. Roxas allowed the touch to linger a moment before pulling away, expression skeptical.

A single blond brow was raised. "I drew a heart on your coffee. Is that really all it takes?" He couldn't help a smile from creeping across his face.

Axel hummed hungrily and pressed a kiss just below his partner's ear. "You'd be surprised, Roxie."

Roxas laughed breathily as he melted from the small touch. "Roxie? You haven't used that one in a while." Axel ignored the comment and continued to suck behind his ear. The blond drew in a sharp breath. "Okay, let's get this over with. I've still got a load of stuff to do for The Superior."

The redhead grinned triumphantly and lusting green fell to dilated cerulean. "Fine by me." He captured Roxas' open mouth with his, the blond starting to moan, but caught himself in favor of keeping their heady engagement as quiet as they possibly could. Axel crushed him closer to the wall, dancing and fighting with Roxas' tongue. Each was trying not to muss the other's appearance too much, lest suspicions rise. Axel grew impatient and pulled the blond's hips into a grind against his groin, cursing the fabric between them, grunting at the pleasurable friction growing in intensity between them.

Roxas choked in a breath. "Axel, we shouldn't be doing this."

The redhead seized the enticing movement, but didn't release the blond. "What happened to the 'I don't give a shit' Roxas?"

He grimaced, probably regretting starting up his resistance as much as Axel was disappointed that it had ended. "It's different now. I actually _care_ if we get caught, and you should too."

Axel groaned and pressed away from sandwiching Roxas between him and the wall, but refused to let more than a few inches separate them. He didn't bother covering up his frustration. "So what are we going to do? It's not like we can just appear in each other's rooms whenever we fucking want to."

A mischievous glint overcame those blue, blue eyes. "Tonight, my place, after work."

Now, that certainly brightened up the redhead's mood considerably. "Sounds great."

Roxas smirked and shoved Axel away, pressing himself away from the wall and sauntering to stand in the small space in front of the redhead's desk. "So, what files did you want sorted?"

Axel crossed his arms over his chest and leaned a hip against the obviously fake wooden desk, allowing his eyes to wander the length of Roxas' business-clad body. "Oh don't worry, you just sorted me out."

Blue eyes were rolled and the redhead was waved off as the intern made his way to the closed door. "Go drink your coffee, asshole."

"Love you too, Rox." The door was opened and shut, leaving the redhead to his phone which still endlessly flashed the calls on hold.

---

The next time the door to Axel's office opened, about a half hour later, the redhead smirked and blurted out, "You just couldn't wait, could you?" He glanced up and was forced to do a double-take. His face fell as he looked at his mohawked best friend. "Oh, it's just you."

Demyx shoved his hands on his hips and glared at the redhead indignantly. "Just me? I just covered your ass when you transferred that bitchy lady over to me, and I'm a 'just'? Thanks a lot, Ax!"

Axel grinned at his friend. "No problem, Dem."

The blond rolled his eyes and worked his way into the tiny office. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the side of Axel's desk, scrutinizing him for a moment. "That was pretty evil of Cid to make you come to work today. I mean, he knew that your flight came in late. He probably just wanted to save some money." Axel kicked back and shoved his feet on top of his desk as Demyx continued babbling on. "I bet he gave you a really shitty room, too. Did you have any room service or anything? Man, if I was there, I would've exploited the free stuff as much as possible."

Axel chuckled, remembering how ticked off he had been about the whole situation. "Yeah, it was a shitty room that we were in, which is how all the trouble started."

Demyx shook his head in awe, soft laughter lacing his words. "I just can't seem to wrap my mind around you being _plural_. It's just so…"

"Not like me?" Axel offered, a wide smirk spread across his cheeks.

The blond hummed in slight agreement. "I was kind of going for 'fucking insane,' but that'd work too."

"It's nice to know that my best friend has confidence in my love live." Green eyes were rolled. Best friend… But Roxas had always been his best friend. Axel shoved the idea from his head and figured that their new life wouldn't be quite the same as their previous one. There was bound to be some differences, obviously, that they would have to work around. But just to have Roxas back… Axel was willing to do almost anything. That determination burned deep within his chest to just keep him by his side, and it wasn't going to let up for anything.

"Hey Ax, you there?" The redhead popped out of his brief mental dive into thought to see Demyx's bright blue eyes staring intently at him.

"Sorry," Axel muttered, wiping his hand down the length of his tattooed face, "I'm still pretty damn tired."

"Yeah, you kind of look it." The blond giggled as he poked one of his music-loving fingers on Axel's cheek. "Need a caffeine fix?"

Red spikes shifted from side to side as Axel shook his head no. "I've still got some coffee left." He picked up the white cup that Roxas had brought him earlier, then long gone cold, and finished it on the spot. He looked up to find Demyx leaned in close, a sly and mischievous expression shining brightly. "What?" Axel inquired, knowing his friend was going to ask a very prying question next.

"So, is he good?" Oh yeah. There it was. The question he had been waiting the blond to ask him.

Axel narrowed his emerald eyes, smirking in a similar way. "Don't you have work to do?" He shoved his friend off of the desk with his foot.

"Probably as much as you." Demyx straightened out his blue business shirt curtly, reverting to his fake offended demeanor. "Fine, if you don't want me to know…" He sauntered across the room to the door and jolted it open.

Just before he left, Axel replied, a soft smile working its way to the surface. "Better than you can imagine."

A brilliant grin was flashed his way. "Ah, love." The door was shut and Axel was left alone once more. If only his best friend knew how much it meant to him to use that word – love. If only he knew how true it was.

---

**End Notes: **I promise it won't take a month for the next chapter to get finished! In any case, happy New Years, everyone! Don't go overboard on that champagne, now.


	19. Chapter 19

**Author's Note: **Today was so fucking stressful, but it turned out to be one of the best of my life. Hee hee! Closet begone! So, you get a spiffy chapter to celebrate! And you get a bit of angst, because it has been lacking as of late. Have fun!

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Chapter 19

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Axel could barely keep his eyes open by the time his break came around. If he didn't know better, he would have accused the coffee boy of getting him decaf. But since his very own coffee boy was the love of his past and present lives, he knew better. All the same, the redhead was in dire need of an extreme caffeine dose with some kind of unhealthy sugary snack to accompany it.

Before he could fall asleep for the remainder of his break, Axel shoved himself away from his desk on the wheeled chair that was _so_ much fun when he first got it, but then it became just a nuisance. Keep moving, Axel. It was the only way he figured he would survive the remainder of the day, just like how he was avoiding over thinking the past life issue. It gave him a pounding headache anytime he tried working it over in his mind, so he naturally avoided it. Hey, he had Roxas, right? Why couldn't he be satisfied with that? But Axel knew that nothing was ever that simple… and here he was, thinking about it again. He shoved it out of his mind as best he could.

He tried his best to not stumble on his way to the break room and practically fell over in relief when he finally made it.

Instantly, his spirits brightened, as they often did when he saw that certain someone who had entered his new life.

There he was, sitting just like he had been the first time they had met in that particular room – slouched forward on the chair at the end of the table closest to the appliance counter, hands clutched around a steaming mug of coffee. Only this time, his gaze flicked to him before returning to his drink, a smile creeping across his cheeks.

Axel made quick work of the few steps distance and bent to press a kiss to the blond's temple. His smile split and gave way to a grin.

Axel's attention wandered to the full cup that Roxas was clutching, noticing that it was quite black. "Couldn't reach the creamer?"

"I was hoping you'd walk in and play my hero," Roxas replied as the redhead straightened, balling a fist on his hip.

Axel hummed thoughtfully. "The Coffee-mate Hero. Do I get to wear spandex?" Damn, that would make one hell of a commercial. He should sell that idea to them. He'd make _millions_.

Roxas didn't even try to suppress his shudder. "Fuck no," was the definite and solid answer.

Axel chuckled, turning to the cupboard behind the blond. "Not the right kink for you, hm?" He reached up and retrieved the creamer from the second shelf from the top, turning and placing it beside Roxas' mug. It was taken up and poured in.

"Not quite, sorry."

"So what is?" Axel leaned over the back of his chair, propping himself up on the backrest with a hand, breathing into Roxas' ear seductively.

Roxas turned, a mischievous glint in his eye, before placing a hand over Axel's face and shoving his head away. "You'll have to wait and see."

Axel quickly recovered from the playful spurn. "Hey, no secrets, now," he teased, stepping over to sit on the opposite side of table, propping his feet up on top, crossed at his ankles, as he had that short time ago. Damn, it felt like a lifetime had passed since then.

"Yeah well, you kept a lot of stuff a secret from me back then," he challenged in return. Fuck, he was bringing it up…

Well, from what Axel had remembered, that was pretty true. Still, Axel tried to cover his ass as best he could. "Hey, that was back then and it was probably for good reason."

"Partners don't keep secrets." The blond's tone was hard to decipher.

Axel sat up a bit straighter, replying defensively. "When it's for their own good, they do."

Roxas looked up from his drink then. "Wait, what else did you keep from me?"

The redhead sighed and shoved a hand through his hair. Damn, did he wish that he knew. "I'm not entirely sure. My memory's not as complete as yours, remember?" Maybe all this crap would work itself out when he retained all of the memories of his previous life. But then there was still the issue of accepting the fact that he had actually _had_ a past life. Damn it all, he was getting a headache.

Roxas hummed in understanding before allowing a smirk to wash over him. "Interesting turn of fates, isn't it? In Twilight Town, I couldn't remember anything, but you knew everything. Now the tables have turned."

"Yeah, but I'm not running away," Axel added in slyly, a quirky grin spread across his tattooed cheeks.

Roxas laughed softly at that. "Yeah, got me there."

Exhausted green eyes closed and Axel mimicked the blond's laugh, leaning his head back against the back of his chair. His small bit of mirth quickly turned into a groan and he grimaced. "Fuck, I'm tired."

The blond scoffed, taking a sip of his coffee. "So am I, no thanks to you."

After a moment of trying not to fall asleep, Axel lifted his head from its rest to look at the blond. "Hey, it was either sacrifice some of your sleep or not get any sleep at all."

"And did you remember anything?" Roxas prodded, leaning forward in interest.

Axel grimaced again, massaging his tired eyes with a hand. "Unfortunately."

Roxas already knew the thought bubbling above the redhead's head. "So, you did kill him."

Serious green turned to prying blue. "Rox, I told you that everything I did at Castle Oblivion was to protect you. That was the only reason why I did it."

Cerulean eyes softened, his tone matching his staring expression. "Axel…"

"Not very romantic, huh?" He scratched behind head uneasily. Well, generally killing someone wasn't a very good turn-on, from what he knew of how the universe worked. Hell, maybe it had changed to be a sort of aphrodisiac overnight without his knowledge. Hey, here's to hoping.

Roxas shook his head slowly, rubbing his forehead. "Fuck, Axel."

"You seemed like you wanted to know," Axel said carefully.

The blond let out a scoffing laugh. "Damn it, why did you have to tell me here? I'd be all over you if we weren't at work right now."

Perfectly trimmed red eyebrows were raised. "In a good way or a bad way?"

Roxas leaned over his mug, voice low, eyes narrowed seductively. "The best fucking way you can imagine." Apparently the universe _had_ changed.

A small smirk began growing on Axel's face. "I'll have to start remembering crap like that more often, then."

"That'd help." He stood, posing the question that Axel had been wanting him to ask for _so long. _"You want some coffee?"

Axel sighed in relief. More from getting out of that conversation alive, but hey, coffee was something to celebrate as well. "That'd be fantastic, thanks. Grab me a spoon for the creamer, too."

Roxas smirked, continuing in a mocking tone, "As you wish, darling. Anything else I can do for you?"

"Oh, I can think of a few things." Sly, sexy devil voice.

Roxas had turned and retrieved a mug. "But they aren't work safe?"

Axel mimed pulling a gun and shooting it. "Bull's-eye."

The blond chuckled, pouring the coffee into one of the mugs that had managed to get forgotten in the back of the cupboard and thus was a bit less stained than the others. He turned and delivered the drink to his partner. "I wouldn't expect them to be," he said with a wink. Axel grinned widely at that. A spoon was placed down and Roxas went back to his seat.

"Creamer, _por favor_," Axel asked once the blond was seated.

Roxas sent the container sliding across table as the break room door opened.

"Thanks," Axel tossed at his partner before looking up to the door and the person walking through. "Hey, Tidus." He gave the blond surfer slash blitz ball player a casual salute.

Tidus, who just so happened to be one of the more outgoing and friendly cubicle slaves who only took the job to buy that new spiffy surfboard, nodded distractedly. "Hey yourself." He paused a second, gaze glancing over Roxas, before returning to the redhead. "Get any good calls lately?"

Axel shrugged in response, dumping a sizeable amount of creamer in his mug. "Just the usual."

"Oh hey, you went to that meeting thing, right?" Damn, this guy knew _everything_.

"We did, yeah," Axel said, motioning vaguely to Roxas, who seemed to be all but completely ignored by Tidus.

Tidus turned and fished some coins out of his pocket, scanning the selection in the vending machine. "Was it as horrible as I've heard?"

"Worse," Roxas provided, taking a swig of coffee.

The dull clunk of change getting plunked into the machine and counted continued as the cubicle slave continued. "Hey, you got the week off of work. At least you got something out of it."

The redhead shrugged once again. "When you put it that way, it was alright. Except for the conference part. They should take that out." A solid thud echoed from the machine.

"You bet." He took his granola bar from the collection bin before all but bolting out of the room. He probably had a client on hold or some shit like that. "Hey, see ya around, guys."

Roxas was able to get in a simple, "Sure," before the door shut behind him. The blond rolled his eyes. "Tidus was one of Sora's friends on the island. I never liked him much, but Sora always hung around with him." A touch of bitterness ran with his words, both from being stuck in the original Keyblade Master's subconscious and from Sora being this life's ex-boyfriend.

Axel took a much needed gulp of coffee before laughing incredulously. "Damn, how many people do we know are from back then?"

The blond shrugged in response, lightening up. "More than you would expect."

Axel shot a glance at the closed door to the break room and went on softly, "Well, from what I know of Tidus, he would not be a good one to tell about us. He tells everyone _everything_."

"Anyone else I should be wary of, or should I just shut my face?" A playful smirk stole across Roxas' face until he covered it with taking a gulp of coffee from his mug.

Axel paused in thought. "The second one. Well, actually, Demyx already knows, so don't worry about him."

Roxas almost choked on his mouthful of beverage. He swallowed heavily before coughing out, "He _what_?"

The redhead scratched behind his head, not quite wanting to bring up the subject yet but having no real choice in the matter now that it was on the table. "Um, yeah. He dropped by my place last night. He's kind of been my best friend since middle school." He threw a goofy grin across the table. "Sorry to replace you and whatnot."

Well, that wasn't so bad. Roxas didn't seem… hurt by it or anything. He simply shrugged and went on in a nonchalant tone, "No big deal. I've had a few besties in my time."

Axel eased up a bit and sank into his chosen chair. "Heh, yeah. So you should just… keep your mouth shut with everyone, I think, and I will, too."

The smile that Axel got from the blond was a genuinely sweet one. "Sounds great."

---

To say that Roxas' house was stiff and tidy would be the understatement of the year. The blond put it all off to his father's anal way of wanting things to keep in line with his desires. The tour of the house was like a quick blow job in that overwhelming and something to be desired sense. Axel hadn't even ever been inside a house as fancy as that, but here he was, practically getting dragged through as he oogled at the vaulted ceilings and obviously outrageously expensive furniture placed around the rooms like they had been put together for a magazine. The kitchen would leave a gourmet chef itching to start up the burners, the library would keep an avid reader busy for years, and the backyard was another story entirely. Can you say pool with pristine tropical landscapes?

Axel's head was spinning by the time they walked upstairs. At least there wasn't too much to show up there, because they headed straight for a closed door, which Roxas was quick to open. Now, this room was obviously more lived-in than the rest of the house. Hell, it even had monster and dinosaur stickers on the inside of the door. There were _clothes_ on the floor, which was shocking after seeing the rest of the house. But there was a solid wall of windows on the far wall and a door which opened up to a small balcony beside a majestic tree.

This simply was _Roxas_.

"So, what do you think?" The blond questioned as he closed the door behind them.

Axel had to let out an exhausted laugh. "So much for a humble upbringing. Damn, your place is fucking _huge_. I'm going to feel all claustrophobic in my apartment after this."

Roxas shrugged. "I guess I get all my humbleness from realizing that I have a heart. Being heartless really makes you appreciate being able to feel."

Axel quirked his head, unsure of the nonchalant way Roxas was talking about the suffering in their past life. "Yeah, I know. But don't you get a bit freaked by being around DiZ all the time?"

Roxas smirked and winked up at the redhead. "I already checked the basement for a computer room."

It felt wrong… how could he do that? Just… blow it off like a bad dream? Axel turned seriously to him. "Roxas, how can you be taking all this so lightly?"

The sudden change in his demeanor caught the blond off-guard and his grin disappeared. "I don't."

Axel furrowed his eyebrows, trying to see past Roxas' forehead and into his thoughts. "Then how can you joke around like that?"

Roxas just stood in front of the previous Flurry of Dancing Flames, in the middle of his carpeted room, rubbing his arm in a fidgety manner. "I've… had a lot more time to accept it. With you, this whole thing just sort of fell on your lap in a hurry. I guess I've kind of forgotten how weirded out I was when I started remembering."

"Weirded out," he scoffed, "yeah, that's an understatement if there ever was one. If I hadn't met you, I probably would have seriously considered turning myself in at the psychopath ward. This whole thing is so unreal and I can't wrap my mind around it most of the time without needing to down a few asprin." And there it was. His insecurities just flowed out of him as if he hadn't been trying to hold them back all that time. It was kind of a relief to talk to someone about it who would understand.

He shrugged in response. "I've just kind of learned to accept that I have these memories that I never lived. It's more like remembering a dream, really." Damn, did that sound perfectly right.

Axel chuckled softly. "I hear you on that one."

"I'm just glad that you remembered," Roxas said as he drew himself flush up against his partner, tucking his head under Axel's chin and grasping the front of his work shirt. He continued softly, "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't."

Axel snickered, pulling the blond closer. "I probably would have gone along with it just to get in your pants, knowing me." It was only because of the haunting dreams that he had feigned ignorance.

Roxas chuckled knowingly. "Sounds about right." He hummed then, continuing slyly, "Speaking of pants, wasn't that the whole point of you coming over?" He un-tucked his head and glanced mischievously up, weaving his fingers through his front belt loops as he did so. He led Axel to the foot of his bed, pulling him on top of him.

He propped himself up on his arms as Roxas freed his hands. "Straight and to the point, now aren't we?"

"I _need_ you, Axel," Roxas half growled, half pleaded, wrapping his arms around the redhead's neck and pulling him close.

Axel sighed. "We still have a lot of crap to talk about and I'm not about to let you blow it off. But for now…" He turned, lusting eyes looking at Roxas like a puzzle waiting to be solved. "This tie has to go." He loosened the knot of the mentioned item of clothing, undoing the top button of his shirt as he did so. He smirked, sucking at the soft skin freshly revealed. Roxas moaned gently beneath him as Axel continued to untie the knot, the loose ends freely flowing over the petit's chest, rising and falling with short, anticipating breaths.

Axel finished sucking on Roxas' jaw and pulled away, unwrapping one of the blond's arms still clutching his neck. He picked at the white cuff teasingly. "Now these have to go, or I'll never get this shirt off of you." The button was undone, and he pressed a kiss to the inside of the precious wrist, all the while Roxas staring up at him, just waiting, _waiting. _Axel smirked at the obvious impatience being displayed, continuing to tease him as he went on. "Number _deux_." The second hand was taken, cuff undone, and kisses brushed over the tips of his fingers.

"Axel…" The keening moan caught the attention of the redhead.

"You know you love it," he whispered smoothly in Roxas' ear, a hand trailing over his chest, down to his stomach and to the hem of his pants. The previous Key of Destiny arced up into the touch, only to be pressed back down gently. "Not yet, Rox." Axel smirked as the miffed blond let out a huff, squirming beneath him in anticipation. Damn, he loved it when he was needy like that. He un-tucked the white business shirt.

Axel pressed a chaste kiss to the corner of his lip, whispering seductively, "Shall we get those buttons?" Roxas nodded his head enthusiastically, eyes clenched shut from the taunting small touches that seemed to be driving him insane. Appeased by this reaction, he leaned down and breathed, "Alright," into his ear, working his way slowly down, revealing inch by slow inch of Roxas' beautifully delicate torso. As he finished with the last of the buttons, the squirming doll sharply came to life.

Roxas growled, "Enough. It's my turn." His hands shot up to Axel's tie and quickly pulled it out, tugging on the two ends and pulling him into a fierce kiss. Somehow in the middle of the tongue and teeth interaction, Axel found himself forced onto his back, a pleasant weight on his lower stomach. Roxas tore off his own shirt, tossing it across the room to heap on the floor, dislodging their lip lock in the process with an annoyed grunt.

"Hey, I was going to do that," Axel teased smoothly, hands wandering over the revealed torso.

"I'm not feeling patient today." Roxas tossed his head back, unsuccessfully trying to flick his bangs out of his eyes before diving down and undoing Axel's shirt as quick as his nimble fingers could go.

Axel smirked down at him, rolling his hips up against the blond's crotch, eliciting a pleased growl. "Could've told me that sooner. I would've already had you naked."

"You wouldn't have listened," he whispered in ex-Number VIII's ear.

Axel hummed, hands wandering. "True."

"Axel, shut up so I can get to undressing you," Roxas hissed, narrow, lust-filled gaze hovering over his partner, almost intimidating. It would have worked if Axel wasn't so convinced that he was a badass bottom.

"You aren't going to have me call you 'Master' are you?" He countered, cupping the back of his neck and pulling him closer.

A grin split across Roxas' lips, hand groping the lump in Axel's pants expertly, causing the redhead to clench his eyes shut and moan. "Don't tempt me."

The remainder of their clothing was quickly removed, naked bodies moving and grinding together, neither really having the strength after the night before for anything more than frottage. Not that they were complaining any. All thought of the troubles that haunted Axel were put to the side and he was happy to just be alive and with the love of his dreams.

Moans and choking gasps of ecstasy overcame the squeaking of Roxas' overly comfortable mattress. A noise came from outside the door and the pair froze, silencing themselves with difficulty. A series of soft thumps that definitely were not coming from them were deafening as they lay, skin on skin, limbs tangled, the weight of Roxas on top of Axel an odd one now that they were unmoving.

A knock came from the door, then a deep, commanding voice…

"Roxas?"

---

**End Notes: **Cliffhanger FTW! Oh, go read my new oneshot, Resolution! It needs some lurve.


	20. Chapter 20

**Author's Note: **Hey peeps! Happy Valentine's Day! I'm totally not bitter this year, surprisingly. I went down to Berkeley with my valentine and it was amazing! So yeah. That's about all the news I have. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

**Other Junk: **Oh yeah, so this semester is pretty much killing me with the workload and stuff. Like, Wednesdays, I have 10 hours of class. Fun, huh? So, I think you should expect about a chapter a month for a while… probably until I finish this thing. So, just so you know!

--- ---

Chapter 20

---

A hand smothered his gasping mouth, the one on top of him trying to still his own heavy panting. His shocked and dreading expression met the calculation and warning on his partner. Axel caught the clue: don't speak unless you want to get murdered in the most long, drawn out and painful way imaginable. It was a look straight out of one of those old black and white mafia movies. He would have commented on that if he hadn't been scared shitless.

The voice returned. The one which belonged to the man who Axel had despised with all of his meaningless being all that time ago. Who he had tried and wanted to destroy but _couldn't_. The voice of the man who had taken from him what was most precious; the same somebody he held in his arms that very moment.

"Roxas, we still have to discuss your conference trip. Do you have a moment?"

Roxas sucked in a breath and hissed, "Shit," quiet enough for his father to not hear.

DiZ's voice continued, gaining strength and a current of agitation. "Roxas, are you there?" Axel's heart dropped into the pit of his stomach as the door handle rattled. He jolted to hide, but was held fast by Roxas, who simply gave him a stern, wide-eyed glare. The door didn't open.

Ex-Number XIII sighed, trying to still his needy lungs, before turning his attention to the sticker-laden door. "Yeah, but I'm still a bit tired. Could we talk later?" Axel was surprised at how calm he could make his voice appear. He still felt like his fight or flight mechanism was on the fritz.

"At dinner, Roxas. Don't be late," was the final comment from the previous Ansem the Wise.

"Yeah," he replied weakly, muttering crossly, "I'll be sure not to." The heavy footsteps retreated as the pair held their breath. They remained still until they could no longer discern the noise.

Axel pressed his head back against the pillow, pulling the obstructing hand from his mouth as he did so, pulling in a much needed gasp of air. He felt clammy from the now-cold sweat that stuck to their skin from the previous exertion, and he shook just slightly from the extreme adrenalin rush. "Holy fuck. Holy _fuck_ did he come at a bad time." Roxas moaned and rolled himself off of his partner to sit beside him on the mattress, forehead in his palm. "Next time, we're going to _my_ place," he continued bitterly. Both were disappointed, neither one even remotely aroused due to the unpleasant interruption, and there didn't seem to be room for repair.

"Sorry, I didn't think he'd be home for a few more hours," Roxas apologized, sounding angry at himself more than anything.

The redhead moaned, mourning the loss of their intimate moment that he had been looking forward to all day. He succumbed to covering his face with his hands in exasperation, voicing the question that had been buzzing in his head. "_Please_ tell me that he knows about you being gay."

"He does," Roxas was almost too quick to answer. "He just doesn't quite approve. He's fine if I don't mention it or do anything." He paused, glancing at the redhead from the corner of his eye. "That he knows about," he amended slyly.

Axel remained unconvinced. "Does he always try to open your door like that when it's clearly closed?"

"That's why I lock it when I'm doing something." A smirk pulled at his lips. "Or someone."

The redhead smiled at the joke. "Is this experience talking?"

Roxas winced, sly demeanor vanishing in an instant. "I'd rather not remember it."

"That traumatic?"

"Oh yeah," Roxas replied, making it very clear that he indeed would rather obliterate it from his memory.

Axel couldn't help but snicker sympathetically. "Sorry to hear that. Well," he changed his tone to a more progressive one, sitting up and draping a lazy arm over his partner's shoulders, "now that we are obviously not diving back under the covers, what should we do?"

Roxas shrugged, relaxing into the loose embrace. "We could play video games?"

Axel lit up at that. "Oh, now I'm interested. Whatcha got?"

"Just about anything you can think of."

"Mario Kart 64?" It was a stretch, but…

"One of my all time faves." Fuck yes.

Axel could have done a victory dance, but he contained himself. "Okay, that's the one, then."

Roxas shot him a challenging look. "Prepare to get your ass whooped."

"Oh, I think not, young grasshopper." He returned the look tenfold. "You might want to put your pants on, 'cause you're going to need them. I show no mercy."

"We'll see about that," Roxas shoved Axel away and went in search of his clothes, "I play Yoshi in manual."

"Bowser all the way, babe," Axel replied with a salute, "and I play manual as well."

---

They ended up kicking each other's asses at the different levels and absolutely failing at others. They hadn't played for an hour and a half before the minimal amount of sleep and coffee deprivation began taking its toll. They ended up collapsing back onto Roxas's bed, barely able to turn off the game with increasingly heavy limbs and eyelids. The lights had already been turned off, to make the gaming experience that much more epic, so the pair simply fell into a relaxed embrace, letting their exhaustion take over.

A few minutes passed, or so Axel thought, before Roxas prodded in a hushed voice, "Hey, Axel?" He received a muffled grunt, the redhead unable to make a coherent enough response. He could feel the blond scoot closer to him, their faces close enough to feel the breath on each other's cheeks. "I'm glad you found me, that one time in The Land of Dragons."

"Why wouldn't I have?" Axel mumbled, sleep still calling him.

Roxas's voice was soft. Axel could tell he was smiling. "I don't know. But I'm glad you did."

"It was for the sex, wasn't it?" Axel teased, his hand draped over his partner's waist massaging the small of his back gently.

"Not just that… you made me feel like somebody and I wanted to explore that more," he explained gently. Everything that Axel had ever imagined the blond to think about what their relationship had been was flowing from his lips. "Everyone else just thought I was a tool, but you didn't." It was a relief to know that the one he cared so deeply for knew how he had and still felt towards him.

Axel smirked, the motion unseen by exhausted closed eyes, but the feeling behind it transferred to his words. "Obviously. Maybe it was because I loved you," he added on teasingly.

"But you didn't," Roxas stated, and Axel couldn't decipher his tone. "You couldn't."

"Maybe I had the next best thing," Axel offered in the best comforting way he could muster in his half-asleep state.

"A friend?" the previous Number XIII offered.

Axel melted into a pleasant smile. "Someone I could help to make feel."

They were silent for a while and Axel almost figured that Roxas had fallen asleep until he spoke up.

"I'm so sorry…" Roxas's voice was barely audible. Axel had been feeling that one coming up, and he was quick to push it to the side.

"You did what you had to, Roxas." It was what he had always told himself to keep him from going insane, which he did a little anyway.

Roxas continued in that soft, meek voice that was so unlike his heartless self, but was the true voice of his inner turmoil and guilt. "That doesn't make up for the fact that I was such an asshole to you."

Axel pressed his forehead to the blond's. "It's alright." He knew it was a lie. He knew that he still hadn't forgiven his lover for that mistake, but was willing to set it aside in favor of cherishing Roxas, now that he was back in his arms. Roxas seemed appeased for the moment with that, and they fell back into silence, slowly drawing closer together until sleep took them.

---

"I'll have the turkey sub."

"Not the bologna? Wow, Ax, that's a step up! I'll convert you in no time."

Later that week, when both Axel and Roxas had fully caught up on their sleep, they found themselves roped in to eating lunch with Demyx and his newish boyfriend. The reason for their full nights of sleep was mostly because the blond had refused to use his house as a place for them to romp around the sac. That, and they hadn't really made a solid enough plan to romp around, so they hadn't considered Axel's place very thoroughly.

So they had found themselves sexless for a few nights and in a double lunch date, without even really realizing it.

Sitting diagonal from the guy Axel had had an explicit dream about killing was a bit of an odd experience for the redhead, but overall, Zexion seemed much more pleasant than he had back then. A bit less dull and heartless, at least.

Axel smirked at his best friend, sitting directly across from him. "I just so happen to be in the mood for turkey. That doesn't mean I've given up on mystery meat completely."

"You actually _eat_ bologna?" Roxas threw a disbelieving and disgusted glance at his boyfriend.

The redhead shook his head, patting him on his thigh kind heartedly. "Now, now. You just haven't grown an appreciation for it."

"How can you appreciate a slice of animal fat and who knows what that has been stuffed into a tube?" Zexion, who had been relatively silent but listening intently before that point, chimed in.

Demyx's cheeks split into a wide grin. "I knew I had a good feeling about you, Zexy! See, Axel, you are officially the odd one out on this one."

"Since when isn't bologna a favorite childhood pastime? Come on, you know you all ate it at one point and thought it was the shit." Damn it, Axel was determined to win this argument.

"I used to take it out of my elementary school lunches and just eat the bread," Roxas put in, still looking at the redhead as if he had gone insane within the past five minutes.

"I don't really enjoy the memories where I ate meat after I realized that meat came from animals. _You_ remember that time when they gave me a corndog and you convinced me that it was vegetarian!" Demyx pointed an accusing finger in Axel's face, and he had to laugh at the memory that it brought up. Demyx didn't eat for the rest of the day and still refused to until late the next evening. Axel knew that he still didn't trust him when he said that things were vegetarian.

"Hey, I was testing you." The redhead shrugged.

Zexion's shoulders shook with silent laughter. "How many other ways did you torture my young Demyx, I wonder?"

"You have no idea," both Axel and Demyx replied simultaneously, the first with pride, the other with exasperation. They all had a good laugh, and continued chatting and joking like a group of old friends for the entire hour that they were allowed for lunch. But, in a sense, they were just old friends meeting up after a life had passed.

---

"So, what do you think of him?" Axel's best friend asked him giddily and slightly nervously after sneaking into his office after they had been back to working at the office for a few hours or so.

Axel put a few more people on the phone on hold and turned away from his workload. He had to roll his eyes. He knew just by the way Demyx was asking him about his new boyfriend like a girl asking her mom if she liked her handmade birthday present, that he really did like the dude.

"I think he's perfect," he replied sincerely. It was the least he could do, to put them together after what he had done to Zexion. It helped that he really did feel like they fit together perfectly.

"Really?" Demyx grinned giddy, like a schoolgirl finding out that her crush returned their feelings.

Axel shrugged. "Well yeah, for you, he's amazing. He seems really smart and sincere." The more he spoke, the more the mohawked blond's grin widened.

Music-loving hands clasped together. "I know, right?" He paused for a moment, dreamy eyes coming down from the clouds to rest uncertainly on Axel. "But you know, when I first mentioned you, he kind of seemed like he hated your guts or something."

Oh shit. "Really? He didn't act like it at all today. Maybe he was thinking of another Axel." Damn it, damn it…

"Um, Ax? How many Axels do you know?" _Shit, shit shit_.

Axel shrugged, trying to loosen himself up as much as possible without making it plainly obvious that he was freaking the hell out inside. "It's possible to have more of me everywhere. If you're wondering if he was one of my one-nighters, he's definitely not."

"Oh," Demyx chirped, brightening up a bit. "I wasn't worried about that." Yeah, like hell he wasn't.

Axel grinned. "Sure, Dem."

After a quick flipping of the bird from the blond, he skipped to the door and grabbed a hold of the handle. "Anyway, I have to get back to work, but we should do that more often!"

"I thought that was the plan," Axel replied cockily, turning to and fro in his chair.

Demyx opened the door, wide grin back in its proper place. "It is now!" He practically had springs for feet, the way he bounced out of the room.

Axel had to laugh at his best friend, but as soon as the door shut, his breath caught painfully in his throat as a question bombarded his mind once more.

Oh shit, did Zexion remember…?

---

**End Notes: **So yeah. Please, please review. I love to hear what you think! And it totally makes my day.


	21. Chapter 21

**Author's Note: **Well then, a bit earlier than I expected! This one just kind of flew onto the page, which was nice. So… you get a nice dose of angst and tension. Enjoy!

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Chapter 21

---

"Shit, all of them died, didn't they?"

"Yeah, and I was the one who killed them all," Roxas replied bitterly as he looked away from the redhead who couldn't seem to help but babble on about their past. They had made it to the end of their first official week of being back at work and they decided to make a night of it. But even in the small, cozy apartment that Axel rented, they couldn't just be simply _together_. They were plagued by events of the past and memories of those who they saw every day.

Axel gave the blond a stern look from beside him on the couch. "That was Sora, not you."

"It might as well have been me." He turned, a dark expression across his face. "I was stuck in him, after all."

"Must've been just as hard for you as it was for me." Axel was both relishing and despising the conversation. He had been hoping for just a bit more… _intimate_ evening. But, as it seemed, their immediate relationship has been put on hold once again in favor of their overpowering past.

"I had to watch you fucking _die_, Axel, and I couldn't _do_ anything. I shouldn't have even left the Organization," he spat. Axel remembered this Roxas. This was the Roxas who raged and fumed in frustration at the worlds and at his existence. This was the Roxas from before they had become friends, who used to fight with him endlessly. But this time around, that anger was turned inwards.

Axel tried his best to appease his lover. "You had to, Roxas. You had to figure out who you were and-"

"Don't try to defend my actions, Axel. Don't you _dare_." Burning eyes turned from white-knuckled clenched fists to pained emerald. But the redhead's expression changed as he processed Roxas' words.

Axel allowed a pregnant silence to pass, scrounging together his thoughts and struggling to piece them together. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly before speaking. "Wait a minute, Rox. I spent the entire time after you left convincing myself that you were right and I was wrong. Now you go and say that _I_ was right? Shit, Roxas," he wiped a hand down the front of his face in exasperation, "how am I supposed to respond to that?"

The anger that Roxas had been stewing in simmered down, and he shook his head tiredly in defeat. "I like to think of this as a second chance of sorts. Just- just know that I don't have answers to chase this time."

Axel sighed. "Yeah, you'd better not. I went through hell to try to get you back."

"I went through my own sort of hell as well and I'm not about to go back," Roxas replied softly. The redhead dropped all the inner qualms towards his lover and pulled a comforting arm over his shoulders. Roxas relaxed into the embrace and pulled his head under the other's chin.

"Damn it, why can't we ever just hang out?" Roxas asked, sounding just as exhausted as Axel felt.

"I thought we passed that stage long ago," Axel said, though it sounded almost like a question.

Roxas pulled away enough to look at the redhead directly. "Yeah, well, to tell you the truth, I'm sick and tired of having all this crap left over to work through. It's hard enough with just going through _this _life. There is so much more to me now that you don't even _know_ yet."

"Like what?" Axel felt a smile creeping across his cheeks.

A look overcame the blond and Axel couldn't tell if it was joking or a bit predatory in some way. "I'm not always the bottom in the relationship. Sometimes I need to _top_." He went with the second.

"So how about I let you peg me?" The redhead offered, smirk growing wider, fingers creeping up and playing with the short spikes at the base of the blond's neck.

Roxas scoffed. "You're willing to shove out your virginity in that area?"

Axel was forced to bark out a laugh. "Rox, I am hardly a virgin."

"Neither am I, but that doesn't matter anymore." He drew just a bit closer; hardly noticeable. "Nothing like that matters."

"So, do you want to?" Axel aided in closing the distance, little by little.

Roxas sighed and his frustration was almost palpable. "Of course I _do_, I just think that we should try acting like a normal couple."

And there it was, the tension was back. Damn, did Axel despise that tension that should never have been, but was, as they had been all that time ago. "Roxas, we _aren't _normal."

The blond pulled away suddenly from the closeness they had been working on, brows knitted. "But we should at least try!"

"Why does anyone need to know what we do in our own houses?" Anything… _anything _to keep this conversation from going on. This wasn't what Axel had had in mind when he had invited the blond over to his house. He had been looking forward to some stress-free sex time with his lover, which he had been looking forward to that entire week, and yet he was still denied it.

Roxas continued lamenting. "I don't want to keep this a secret from the world anymore. I'm tired of lying to people about you a long fucking time ago."

Now Axel was getting fed up, and he made sure to let the blond know it. "So are you saying that you _don't_ want sex because people might ask you what you did with your boyfriend last night?"

Roxas bit back whatever he was going to say next, and replied with a desperate, "No! That's not what-"

"But it sure sounded that way to me," Axel cut him off coldly.

The blond grabbed at his lover just as desperately as he spoke. "Axel, I _need_ you, you _know_ that. I didn't spend all this time wondering who the hell you were and thinking that I was going insane because I couldn't stop thinking about someone that I had never even _met_, to just let you slip out of my fingers."

Axel took a deep breath and let it out slowly, asking sternly, "So, what do you want from me? Do you want me to be your virgin boyfriend or your long lost lover?"

He saw Roxas' face fall and could almost feel his heart dip into his stomach. His voice was meek when he finally replied. "I don't know. We could go on dates. Just get to know our new selves better. I know exactly who you were back then, but I hardly know anything about you now. You know, favorite movies, hobbies…"

Axel softened up a bit, knowing that Roxas was trying his best. "I like James Bond and I juggle. Your turn."

Roxas just looked at him and responded. "I like Audrey Hepburn and I make art things."

"See?" The redhead pulled the blond to his chest, whispering in his ear, "Now we know each other."

"But you do get what I'm getting at, right?" Small arms circled the other's overly thin middle.

"Sure," Axel said softly, "you want to do normal couple things on top of all the other stuff." His lips went to work sucking on Roxas' exposed neck, drawing a pleased moan from the recipient.

"Hit the nail on the head. So, does your offer still stand?" He questioned breathily into his lover's ear.

Axel smirked against his neck. "I thought you just wanted to hang out." _Now_ they were getting somewhere. Damn, _finally_.

Roxas growled seductively, palms wandering under the redhead's shirt. "This _is_ just hanging out. Stuff less than this is extra crap. It's still important, but it's not my highest priority at the moment. You sure no one is going to walk in on us this time?"

"The only other person who has a key is Demyx, and lord knows that he's walked in on me before," he was quick to reply as nimble fingers worked on unbuttoning his pants.

"_Perfect_."

---

Axel was overjoyed that their lives had settled down a bit after that night. He reflected back on their conversation and realized how important it had been for them to open up with each other. They never really talked like that in their previous life, from what Axel could remember.

He was just glad that they could just be together, knowing what the other wanted. For the first time, they felt almost like a normal couple, but with much better sex.

Seeing the relationship develop between Demyx and Zexion was an interesting thing for them to see. Neither of them really said anything out of the ordinary; nothing they said pointed to their time as Nobodies in Organization XIII. But every so often, Axel would catch Zexion staring at him in that cold, one-eyed way that he recognized all too well from his ever frequent dreams.

Besides that, for the week and a half after Axel and Roxas' discussion, life seemed perfect. But Axel should have seen it coming…

It was a Wednesday, late afternoon, when the Top Asshole came into Axel's office to drop off some important files. He was to deliver them to the District Office, since they were due that day and he had been _so_ _busy_ and couldn't get them done until then. Cid left his office and Axel collapsed back into his chair. The District Office was well over two hours away.

"_Fuck_," Axel hissed to the empty office, not really feeling up to driving for that long that late in the day. At least he would get paid overtime. Cue entrance of Roxas with his afternoon caffeine dose.

The cup was placed on his desk and a question was asked jokingly. "Hey, why do you look like someone just cock-blocked you?"

Axel chuckled at that and he stood, important files in hand. "I have to drive these to the fucking District Office. _Today_. Do you know how far away that place is?"

"Really far away?" Roxas guessed, shrugging.

"Yeah, so that's a negative on going to see Watchmen tonight. I'm going to have to go all the way over there and then come back here with the company car to pick up mine. It's going to be like, eight when I get back here."

"So what? We'll just go see it tomorrow. No big deal." Roxas leaned against Axel's fake wooden and quite messy at the moment, thank you very much, desk as its semi-owner went about gathering his stuff for the trip.

Axel sighed, pausing his gathering and turning to his boyfriend. "Yeah, I know. Why don't you just meet me at my apartment and we'll just watch something there instead?"

"And do couple-y things?" The blond smirked mischievously.

The redhead laughed lightly at that. "Sure, whatever you want, Rox."

"Okay," Roxas pressed away from the desk, "have a nice drive and don't forget your coffee." He turned to walk out the door.

"Hey," Axel stopped him, "you leaving already? You're forgetting something, Roxie."

The blond turned back to him, smirk still firmly in place. "You're pathetic, you know that, right?"

"You're the one who wanted to act like a normal, adorable couple. Get over here." Roxas complied with his boyfriend's request slash demand and they fell into a simple, casual kiss.

"Satisfied, you sap?"

"Of course not, but that's all I'll get for now, so I'm just sucking it up," Axel explained as Roxas just looked up at him in amusement.

"I'll see you later, then." He turned and closed the door behind him without another word. The redhead simply snickered to himself and shook his head. How did he get such a tease of a boyfriend?

Axel continued gathering his things, making sure to bring the disposable coffee cup that the blond had set on his desk, and left the office for the company's slightly spiffy car and the long road before him.

The drive was just as long and tedious as he had expected. When he finally got to the city where the District Office was located, being himself, he got completely lost and ended up having to call the office to get directions. Of course, he joked about it with the people there when he actually did find the place. For all his hard work, all he did was ask the receptionist who to give the file to, and she just took it from him with a sweet smile and said that she would give it to her boss.

Soon enough, Axel was back in the car and on the road once more for the few hours drive back. Day turned to twilight and then to night as he blasted his tunes to pass time and to keep himself from dying of boredom. He finally got back to the office a little bit past eight and was quite relieved that whoever locked the doors had been informed that he would be arriving late. After all, he had to return the key to the company car. You know, company policy and all that crap. Like he ever paid much attention to it.

He got up to the eighth floor and was quite happy to just stand in the elevator, stretching out his worn legs as it zoomed upwards without stopping, since everyone else in the building had gone home long before. He entered the office, most of the lights turned off, and returned the key to the drawer in which it was kept in Cid's office.

He walked past the door to his own lonely office and saw a flicker of movement from within. After a what-the-fuck, the cleaning people should have been long gone by then, moment, he opened the door and peered suspiciously inside.

It was as dark as he left it, the only light coming from a distant streetlamp entering from the slits between the half-closed blinds.

His eyes fell to a petit blond leaning against his desk, one foot hooked around the other ankle casually. With a question on his lips, Axel entered the room. He stopped when Roxas pressed an index finger to his own lips, sporting a seductive smirk. He pointed to the door, which the redhead still held onto, and it was quickly eased shut. Axel dropped whatever he was holding – he didn't even recall that he was even carrying anything – and went to the blond. Roxas was quick to receive the redhead's needy touches and replied with his own lusting movements.

In the silence, they continued. Buttons were undone, zippers down, and clothes moved just enough out of the way for the redhead to penetrate the blond. Darkness surrounded them, and they were reminded almost too much of all those times when they had stolen away into a corridor of darkness, their own sanctuary of feeling, waiting, just _waiting_ for another member to use the same pathway. But they never got caught… They never did.

Roxas wound his legs about Axel's waist as they moved, the redhead pressing into him repeatedly as the other sat on his desk. Ecstasy… feeling…

Light flooded the room, unnoticed by the redhead. Roxas ceased all movement and dug his fingernails into the back of Axel's neck. "Axel," he hissed, his tone causing his partner to engage his hearing. His voice wavered… "Axel, stop. It's Cid."

Green eyes flew open and he whipped his head around to find, to his horror, the silhouette of their boss standing in the open doorway. Icy cold seconds followed as he met those peering eyes. He only came to realize that it was real when he spoke.

"Well, I never would have thought that this is what would come of my decision to take on an intern. Roxas, don't bother coming in tomorrow. In fact, don't bother ever again. As for you, Axel… You will be in my office tomorrow morning." Cid turned without another word and slammed the door.

The pair simply stared at the closed door, too stunned to move.

Roxas was the first one to speak. "S-shit, Axel…" The redhead pulled himself out of the blond agonizingly slow.

"I know. Fuck." He whispered, buttoning his pants as Roxas struggled to pull his up. "Holy _fuck_. Tell me that didn't just happen."

The blond sucked in a few needy breaths and wiped the clinging sweat from his brow. "I think- I think we both just got fired." He slowly unwound his legs from Axel's waist, wincing slightly as he did so.

Axel shoved himself away from his desk, tugging painfully hard on his red spikes. "You think?" He hissed lowly. "You _think_? I won't be able to pay for my apartment without this job! What the fucking hell am I supposed to do?"

Roxas lowered himself off of the desk. "Let's start by getting out of here as fast as we can."

Axel groaned, not quite looking forward to testing out to see if their boss had left the general area yet. "Yeah, sounds great."

They had never gotten caught… they never got caught… never before.

---

**End Notes: **You have no idea how long I've waited to write that scene. I feel so evil now, it's not even funny.


	22. Chapter 22

**Author's Note: **Damn, I'm on a roll with these things! It helps that I've had them outlined for the past few months… haha. Well, It's spring break, so I do have some more time now. Free time, what a novelty!

**Other Junk: **Hey, I got to 22 chapters! Same as AWFY! Yay! Oh, and I totally reached the 150 pages mark on my word document with this chapter. Awesomeness, right there. Oh, happy Saint Patrick's Day!

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Chapter 22

---

_A corridor of darkness, but it was filled with light. It was blinding to him. One without the foul touch of darkness walked within. So much alike they were, but the one he almost loved was somewhere lost in those blue eyes._

_The living shell encasing former Number XIII was quickly being overwhelmed by the nobodies swarming around and he knew that his body of flesh would quickly be consumed by the darkness without a special black coat like his own. But Sora didn't know that. Roxas had known. He had felt the bite of darkness before. Axel knew. He'd been there. _

"_Don't stop moving, or the darkness will overtake you." The same words he had said to the blond all that time ago. He was on a last-ditch mission… to retrieve the blond from the depths of his cage, to make him into a separate being again. He wanted… to see him._

_The zipper-mouthed nobodies were multiplying by the second and soon there was a sea of them surrounding the pair: the nobody and the nobody encased by the somebody. They fought side by side, the redhead closely watching the true Keyblade Master. Not once did the ruthless, heartless, reckless side of him show. His movements were all wrong. Axel had taught the blond and later watched him endlessly. He knew the Key of Destiny's fighting style just as well as he knew his own and they had moved flawlessly together. But not Sora. His being… his heart had been influenced by too many people. He wasn't cold towards his enemies. He didn't freely wield two Keyblades and he had little knowledge of their full power. But most of all, he wasn't Roxas._

_It was then that Axel realized that no matter what he did, he couldn't undo what DiZ had done. Roxas was forever lost within his former self. He had a heart, but it didn't belong to him. It was not his to use and give. He had once told the redhead that if he found a heart first, he would give it to Axel. That promise had been lost the moment Roxas had turned away from him and walked away from the City that Never Was, leaving Axel with his confession that would never be heard… _I would_._

_They would meet again in the next life. _

_Flames engulfed him. They swept everywhere; a deadly whirlwind of fire and ash. It licked his flesh, as he never dared it to do before. Pure white heat engulfed the entire corridor, turning everything to whence it came to cinders. But he bade them away from his partner's somebody. He had stopped believing that Roxas was there, within those sapphire eyes that had so much feeling in them. But he couldn't bring himself to harm him._

_As the fire dwindled away and the heat abated, his inner fire whispered out of existence. It was his hope, which had been the only thing driving him on, if he could be able to call it that. But that had been snuffed out just the same. He didn't feel his body go limp and he didn't feel the hard impact of his thin body on the solid ground of the corridor._

_He felt… nothing. Pieces of his body flew up like shadow… or were they just black flames? It was like watching his own body shrivel away on a funeral pyre._

_Innocent, free, feeling blue eyes stared down at him._

"_You're… fading away."_

_Nothing…_

"_I wanted to see Roxas." He tried to conjure an image of the blond in his head. That questioning look to his brow, that small, unfeeling smile… He couldn't. "He was… the only one I liked." The emptiness in his chest ached. "He made me feel… like I had a heart."_

_The eyes changed… they no longer held the light-hearted innocence of his somebody. He was trapped and looking out. He was fading away… "You make me feel… the same." Roxas was still there, and he was fading away. At least he had gotten a heart._

_For a second, right before he disappeared, he thought he heard a familiar voice. "Axel…"_

_And then there was nothing._

---

Axel woke up alone. The cold darkness of night pressed down on him and it took him a moment to gather his thoughts. Roxas must have left not long after he had fallen asleep. He had said that he should go home, but promised to stay until the redhead had fallen unconscious. He wished for a moment that that promise hadn't been kept.

_We may not appear to be as we were… but we'll make another promise to keep._

He shoved the covers from his clammy body. He had died in his dream. But he was still alive. No… he hadn't just died. He had killed himself to save Sora, and thus Roxas. But he had said… that he had to see Axel die. So he really _was_ inside the Keyblade Master. Fuck, he was so _stupid_.

Axel shoved the thoughts from his mind. He had to focus on this life. Mainly going to work and facing Cid after the night before. There weren't many things in his life that he had been terrified of going to. Giving speeches in class, catching spiders with his bare hands… nothing like that fazed him. But this… this was different.

He took extra care to make sure that he was well dressed and groomed before gathering all of his work supplies in his brief case and snatching his car keys from where he had tossed them the previous evening. He arrived at work ten minutes early, which was a huge deal for him. He even got there before Demyx, seeing that his car wasn't in the parking lot yet. He took the elevator up to the eighth floor and made a bee line to his office, dumped his stuff just inside the door, and walked the short distance to Cid's office. By that time, it seemed as though all the cubicle slaves had gotten into their places. A few were chatting with their neighbors about whatever show had been on the TV the night before, or what kind of coffee they were trying out. Axel didn't give a damn about them at that moment.

He took a deep breath before knocking solidly on the door twice. A gruff, "Yeah, you can come in," was said from within, and Axel turned the knob, certain that at least a few pairs of eyes were boring into the back of his head. And this time it wasn't because of his hair color. He stepped into the office. Cid was looking high and mighty in his throne of a boss chair: black leather, high back and the works.

"Good morning, Axel. Please, sit," Cid ordered more than offered. He meant the quite uncomfortable looking chair positioned right in front of his desk. Axel remembered sitting right in that very seat the first time he had interviewed for this job. He mumbled a good morning in return, keeping his eyes determinedly away from his boss's. Instead, he clasped his hands together, fingers laced between his legs, and stared down at them.

Cid let out a heavy sigh. The redhead could almost see him shove a hand through his hair. "I assume you know why you're here." To that, Axel gave a dreading nod. A moment of silence passed before the boss spoke again. "Axel, what you have done is strictly against company policy. Not only do you have a relationship with your subordinate, but you committed the act on company property."

Ouch.

Axel winced, but forced himself to look him in the eye. "I know that, Mister Highwind, but Roxas and I were in a relationship before he began working here. Doesn't that give me a little leeway?"

Cid remained expressionless. "I'm sorry, Axel. You are a great worker, but I have to let you go." His stomach dropped to the floor, followed by his heart.

He recovered quickly from the blow and steeled, gaining an ounce of confidence in his ability to speak. "It's because we're both guys, isn't it?" It was a statement, not a question.

"I don't give a shit about that," his boss replied bluntly. "I'm just following the rules. I would do the same for anyone in your situation."

Axel knew that was true and he accepted it, succumbing to a sigh. "Alright. I guess I'll start packing up my things."

"I need you out of here by the end of the day. Your compensation will be mailed to you in about a week once it's been processed." Now he was just rattling off procedural stuff. Axel remembered reading about that in the manual when he started. Funny, he had always figured he would quit, not get fired. Fate sure had it in for him.

He kept his head low and voice defeated. "Yes sir." He stood, scooting the chair back just a bit as he did so. He turned away from his boss and went to the closed door, reaching for the handle.

"Goodbye, Axel," Cid said in a final farewell as Axel eased the door open. The redhead made no reply before closing the door shut behind him.

Not much to his surprise, he saw many pairs of eyes staring out over their cubicles at him. Some people had even stood up, as if that would help them hear the conversation better. No one really bothered to pretend that they weren't staring at him. He refused to make eye-contact with any of them as he walked back to his office. Even when Demyx rushed over and asked quiet, rushed questions, Axel ignored his surroundings to the fullest extent. He finally just gave his best friend the best 'leave me the fuck alone' look he could muster before slamming the door of his office in his face.

He stood alone in his cold office, the heater not yet turned on. His gaze wandered about the small room: the fake plant in the corner, the files on the wall, the computer, his swivel chair, and finally, the desk. He ran a slightly shaking hand over the smooth fake wood surface. A fist was formed, and it momentarily left the desk, only to come smashing back down. It didn't damage the thing, but it hurt.

He knew he couldn't be mad at Roxas for coming to his office. He had fallen for him when he should have politely declined and waited until they got back to his apartment. He should have known that shit was going to happen, even though no one should have been in the office.

But that was just it… no one should have been there. Cid, to the best of his knowledge, had never stayed that late. But there hadn't been lights on…

Had he known that this was going to happen?

Axel sighed and decided that then was not the time to think about that crap. He resigned to be angry at his own stupidity. He then began the monotonous job of piling things up into boxes to be taken away. There wasn't that much stuff that was actually his, but still, it all took up two bulk paper boxes. He was done within the hour.

He picked up his boxes and suitcase that he had dumped in just before meeting Cid, and left without looking back into that hell hole he called his office. He left the office without another word.

Demyx followed him into the hallway and called after him. "Axel, what the hell happened?"

Axel came to a stop, knowing that it would only be worse if he didn't tell his friend sooner. "I should've listened to you, Dem." He turned to face his best friend. He felt so fucking weak, it was sickening. "I was working late last night and Roxas showed up. Cid caught us and gave us both the boot."

Bright, sky blue eyes widened at the information. They just stood for a moment in silence, staring one another in the eye. "S-shit, Axel… What are you going to do?"

"Go see Roxas," he said firmly, then shrugged, lost. "After that… fuck, I don't know. Dem, go back to work, you're missing calls."

Demyx glanced back at the office door, knowing that he was right. "Don't do anything stupid, Axel."

Axel could have laughed. He'd killed himself before. Like fuck he was going to do it again. He shook his head. "I'll be fine." He turned away, towards the elevators, leaving Demyx standing alone in the hallway.

He got in his car and sat for a second with his eyes closed to the world. He just felt so numb, even though he should have been feeling overwhelmed. It was somewhat of a relief. Almost.

It only took Axel a moment to pull out his cell phone and punch in the blond's phone number, crushing the device against his ear.

He picked up after one ring. "Axel, what happened?"

Axel sighed. "He fired my ass, that's what happened."

"Yeah, I've been getting hell from my father all morning," Roxas empathized.

The redhead choked. "You already told him?"

He could almost see the blond shaking his head slowly. "No, he already knew. Some kind of big businessmen gossip got around and he happened to pick it up. I'm hiding in my room to escape his wrath."

"Well, I'm coming over," Axel said solidly. It was about the only thing he was really sure of at that moment.

"Bad idea, Ax. DiZ would tear you to shreds. He'll blame you for ruining my business career."

Axel scoffed. "Fuck that. You don't even want to be in business."

"Yeah, that's true, but-"

"I'm still coming over, you know," Axel cut his boyfriend off, quite positive that he couldn't get talked out of that certain fact.

"My father won't let you in and like hell I'm leaving my room right now to open the door." Damn it, he was _so_ determined to make Axel not go. Like hell he wasn't.

"Then I suggest you grow some hair somewhere so we can play Rapunzel."

"You're serious?" And Roxas actually seemed slightly surprised, though he should know better than to doubt Axel.

"I'm starting the car right now," he responded, sticking the key in the ignition as he said it.

"Good luck finding a way up to my balcony." It pained Axel to hear Roxas' voice so sunken and defeated.

He softened a bit. "I'll just climb the tree. That'll work, right?" Axel knew that the blond was having just as hard of a time as he was, if not worse because of the previous Ansem the Wise.

He could almost see the meek shrug. "It's possible, I suppose. I used to do it all the time."

"Great. Listen for a tap, tap, tapping on your balcony door." He'd heard that somewhere before… or something like it.

"Sure thing, Poe." Oh, right.

Axel was forced to grin. "What did you call me?"

"Nothing, love," Roxas replied, a reluctant smile coming across the slightly static-y phone.

"Yeah, right. See you in a bit." Axel flipped his phone shut and started the engine.

---

**End Notes: **Hey, peeps. Wanna review and make a writer's day? You know you do!


	23. Chapter 23

**Author's Notes: **Sorry peeps, school has been eating my life. And so has Final Fantasy VIII. But mostly school. So, here is the long-awaited chapter 23. I don't know why, but this chapter was really hard for me to write for some reason. Hope you enjoy it!

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Chapter 23

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It took some doing, but after jumping the fence surrounding Roxas' huge house and struggling through the bamboo patch and almost falling into the pool, and then climbing the huge ass tree beside the blond's balcony, Axel finally found himself standing before the glass doors. He felt like some kind of Romeo-ninja hybrid with a monkey mixed in somehow. Perhaps minus the whole 'it is the east and he is the sun' part. Roxas wasn't just the sun. He was everything. He was the moon, twilight, happiness, passion… everything.

Axel knocked lightly on the frame, unable to see beyond the sheer curtains on the other side. It only took a moment for Roxas to slide the door open and even less time for Axel to pull him into his arms wordlessly. He held him; taking in his sweet scent, cherishing the warmth his petit frame gave off, wanting, _needing_ him to be there in his arms.

"Are you finished?" Roxas asked quietly after a good bit of being held to the redhead's chest.

"No," he replied shortly, refusing to release his lover.

Roxas continued softly, "You have to let go sometime."

Axel only clutched him tighter. "No, I don't."

"Okay," the blond submitted gently, wrapping his arms around Axel's waist and tucking himself more comfortably against him. They held each other for a time, the whole while Axel's brain storming with thought, angry at the world and fearful of what was to come.

He didn't notice that he had started to shake until he was reassured by Roxas' soft, "It'll be alright, Axel," which was whispered into his chest.

He replied with a mirthless breathy laugh. "Heh. Fuck this feeling business. I'd rather be heartless."

"No you wouldn't," Roxas further reassured him.

Axel paused a moment. "No, I wouldn't," he agreed softly.

Roxas hummed, almost like a purr. "Are you ready to let go of me now? I'm getting smothered."

The redhead sighed, not wanting to let him go ever again, but finally released him. It wouldn't do for Romeo to suffocate Juliet on her balcony… _his_ balcony.

Roxas glanced up, a small smile in place on his lips. He clasped Axel's hand loosely, leading him into his room, the former Flurry of Dancing Flames following like a lifeless marionette. He was so spent, and it was still only mid-morning. They sat on opposite ends of Roxas' bed, blond at the head and redhead at the foot, cross legged and facing the other. Then the dreaded question was posed. "So, what're we going to do now?"

Axel simply shook his head, in one of those rare fluke moments, unable to speak.

Roxas sucked in a breath. "Right. Well, what have you always wanted to do?"

The redhead look up then, gaze dull and grey but a fake small smile crept to the corners of his lips. "Phone sex?"

Ex Number XIII rolled his eyes. "Non sexual, Ax." Oh, he wanted to be serious…

Axel sighed, eyelids falling shut exhaustedly before looking back to his boyfriend. "You're so not making this easy. Well, I would like to go back to college, but I'm still paying off my loans from my first degree. Let's not forget my apartment costs and whatever the hell else I have bills for."

Roxas leaned forward just slightly, continuing in his best sympathetic voice. "Ever heard of work-study?"

"Well, yeah." Hadn't everyone who ever went to college?

"There you go." Roxas shrugged, as if it solved everything. "If you get into a good program, it'll pay for a lot."

Well, he could accept that for the moment. "Yeah, right. So, what're you going to do?"

Roxas looked at him seriously. "I'm joining you."

Axel stared back blankly and said in a flat, dead tone, "We're getting married? When did that happen?"

He received an exasperated and slightly bemused huff. "No, you dipwad. I'm going to school with you. Remember when I said that thing about wanting to go into graphic design?"

Axel massaged his forehead, feeling a headache coming on. He had never really enjoyed planning out his future. He had always figured it would just happen to him. Dealing with his _and_ Roxas' future… that was another story entirely. "Oh yeah, that."

"Yeah, _that_. So, what do you say?" At least one of them was sounding a bit confident.

"Pursue our dream careers together? Sounds fucking insane."

Roxas scooted a bit closer on the mattress, gaining more and more strength as he went. "Well duh. But why not?"

Axel put his head in his hands, now quite certain that the headache wasn't just a passing fancy. "Things were so much easier when our main goal was to get hearts." He looked up to see his boyfriend waiting expectantly for an answer. "Yeah, sure. Why the fuck not? Fashion design, costume making… sign me up, babe. Now can we drown our sorrows of getting laid off?"

"Drown in what?" A smile crept its way across the mischievous blond's cheeks.

The redhead just shook his head. "Whatever the fuck we can."

Roxas took his cue and climbed into his lap, fingers teasing the red spikes at the nape of his neck. "It's not healthy to drown oneself when they are experiencing depression," he said teasingly.

"Yeah, fuck that." They pulled each other closer until their lips met, broke away, came closer teasingly, and met once again. They continued their game, though with increasingly shorter periods of time with their mouths unconnected. Axel pulled away after a bit, Roxas following until he spoke. "Is your dad leaving anytime soon?"

Roxas remained bare inches from Axel, eager to continue their tongue tango. "He should be going to work soon, but after everything that happened, I don't know."

Axel sighed and allowed for one more kiss before he buried his face in the soft blond spikes once again, taking in a deep breath of his sweet scent. "Okay." They held each other for a while in silence, just savoring that simple warm embrace, drowning in the comfort that the other was right there, and knowing that the other would never leave. Not again. Axel thought back to when they first met in their previous life, when they were determined to loath each other. He smiled at how fiery his partner had been and how beautifully content he could be as well. And then there was a single thought. "I'm thinking sea-salt ice cream."

He could feel Roxas grin against his shoulder. "Too bad there isn't a clock tower here."

"No, but there's a bell tower. Ever been there?"

Roxas' fingers idly played with the cloth of Axel's nice business shirt. "I thought you couldn't get up there."

"Nothing is impossible. Plus, I've done it before. It takes some doing, but it's nothing we can't handle."

The blond hummed, sounding much contented. "It'll be just like old times."

"Only better," Axel added.

Roxas pulled away, gazes dissolving deeply within one another. "Alright, let's go."

---

It wasn't entirely like old times, sitting up on the second story of a building with the clock on an inaccessible level above. The clock ticking wasn't exactly as they remembered, but it was still a strange comfort left over from their memories. The eternal twilight sky was missed just as sorely as that quiet town that they had spent so much time in, just talking about the same old things after a long day's work for The Superior.

Axel bit the corner of his sea salt ice cream, shocked as he always had been by the saltiness of it. He glanced over at Roxas, who was simply staring at his own in-between licks, feet dangling over the edge of the building. He hummed contentedly and spoke absently. "Funny that we'd end up in Traverse Town."

"Why's that?" Axel took another bite, slowly getting used to the salt, which seemed not to bother the blond in the slightest.

"This was where everyone appeared after their world was turned into a heartless. Maybe that's why we were all drawn here for some reason or another." Now, this was the Roxas that he remembered, when he used to just speak what was running through his mind.

The redhead laughed bitterly. "Maybe that's why I decided to stay here. A place of constant transition is perfect for me. I mean hey, I'm starting a transition right now."

"That's true." Silence returned to the pair as they worked at their ice cream, just watching blindly as the town woke up.

After a moment, Axel thought to tell the blond about his dream that night before. He was careful to breach the subject, but he decided to just dive right in. "You know, I used to wonder if I would feel something when I died. It actually didn't feel like anything." He paused a moment, thoughts turning. "I wonder if it would be the same now."

Roxas snapped his head away from staring out at the world to glare at his lover. Axel's unbuttoned and rumpled collar was forcefully taken in by a fierce gripping fist and he was jolted to the side, staring into chillingly crystal eyes. Roxas snarled, "I watched you die before. Fuck if I'm going to let it happen again."

Axel paused for a moment, taking in the smoldering blond, shocked out of his thoughtful tranquility. Roxas was scared, he realized. He drew his eyebrows together and replied gently, "Relax, Rox. I was just throwing a question out there. I'm not about to hurl myself off the edge of anything."

The blonds' face fell and he let go of the white collar, seeming to crumple into himself. "You did before."

"I thought you were gone," Axel tried to reason and was relieved when Roxas agreed.

He shook his head slowly, returning to staring out at the street below, tone tired and defeated. "I pretty much was. But I was still inside his head. I told you that before."

"Right, you did…" Axel sighed and the silence returned.

Roxas was the one to break the pregnant silence by letting out a slow, bewildered, "Holy shit."

Axel stole a glance over at the suddenly very alert blond. "What?"

He shifted stiffly, to get a better view at the street below. "Holy _shit_, it's _them_."

"Them who?" Before he even finished his question, his eyes were drawn to an all-too familiar brown spiky-haired guy who looked far too much like his nobody, walking with a taller silver-haired guy.

Fire lit in Axel's chest as he saw the confident Riku strut casually down the sidewalk. He had taken Roxas and given him to DiZ. That in itself was wrong. The fact that he had screwed up Roxas' life in _this_ life was unforgivable.

His sight shifted to the carefree brunet bouncing alongside Riku. Sora… Axel hated… loathed the fact that he was drawn to this somebody. Everything else faded in his vision except that single person – nothing else could penetrate his concentration. Part of him wanted to shriek until his voice was lost, and the rest wanted to remain completely silent and still. He was half of Roxas, he had been Roxas's lover, he had left Roxas, _Roxas was in there, right behind those eyes-_

"Axel, I'm right here," a quiet voice probed into his spinning mind. The tornado retreated and he came to his senses, popped from the foggy bubble he had retreated into.

He sighed, unable to keep from staring daggers at the pair as they walked down the street. "I know." They turned the corner and disappeared behind a building. Only then did Axel look back upon Roxas, who was staring back anxiously. "I'm not letting you go this time."

Roxas simply stared back and replied, "This time I'm not leaving."

---

Axel woke from a deep sleep, the darkness of his room pressing down on him as his comforter was, almost stifling. The air was thick and stuffy, but that wasn't what had woken the redhead from his slumber.

Small, sharp and keening gasps sporadically filled the silence, followed by quiet moans of dream-induced ecstasy. Roxas fidgeted slightly beside the still redhead, who simply stared at the black ceiling as his partner continued expressing how wonderful of a wet dream he was having.

After a minute or two of suffering through this agony of it not being him making those sounds come out of the blond, Axel turned towards the aroused ex-Number XIII and was about to slip his hand into his boxers to finish the job the dream had started, when the sleeping boy shrieked out, in a groggy, hoarse voice, a name.

"_Riku_!"

Axel stopped dead in his tracks, hand almost at the blond's groin, which retreated as his repulse for the name grew worse and worse with each passing second, each continued gasp and moan from his partner, who he had planned, that very day, to return to college with and work towards their dream careers together. Who he had been _fired _because of little more than twenty four hours before. And he had ground out a name of one of the people that _both _of them despised, from this life and the last.

He couldn't help but feel a little betrayed.

Roxas continued to squirm, letting out moans that were growing louder as his dream progressed. He reached his climax soon enough, which felt like an eternity to the redhead as he continued staring at the ceiling. Any moment now…

The blond jolted beside him, crying out in surprise as he woke. His hands flew to clench in his hair and tugged viciously as he groaned.

"Finally," Axel muttered, glad that the whole experience was done with.

Cerulean eyes snapped to his as Axel looked over at his lover. Recognition dawned on the blond and he looked so _relieved_. "Oh fuck, thank you for being _you_. Please tell me that I'm _me_."

Axel quirked a trimmed red eyebrow. That was an interesting request after that kind of dream. "You're… Roxas."

Roxas moaned again, though this time it was quite the opposite of sexually pleased. "Fuck, what a nightmare."

"You didn't seem like you were minding it very much," Axel commented bitterly.

Roxas let out a frustrated huff of air. "Well, that's because Sora didn't mind it. At all. With fucking _Riku_."

Oh, that's what it was… "A memory?"

The blond nodded stiffly, eyes clenched shut. "Of Sora's. I've been getting them more and more. This was the first like this, though. You know, he thought that Nobodies weren't meant to live, and when I'm him in my dreams, I believe it to. Which is the scariest fucking thing in the world."

"Sounds pretty scary." Axel was miffed and he was sure to make that loud and clear.

Roxas groaned, prying his hands away from gripping his hair to flop on top of the rumpled comforter. "Axel, don't get all pissed at me, please."

"For what? Listening to my boyfriend cry out another guy's name in his sleep?" Axel shot him an accusing look.

He just cringed and the redhead could practically feel his partner's heart fall into the pit of his stomach. "Fuck, I was?"

Axel softened slightly and replied with a simple, "Yeah."

Roxas let out a slow breath before continuing. "Sorry you had to hear that, Ax. If I'd had a choice, I'd have said your name." Well, that made Axel feel a bit better. Not much though, but he knew that Roxas was trying. The blond shifted uncomfortably beside him. "Shit, I need to change. Got any extra boxers I could use?"

"Dresser in the corner, top right drawer," Axel affirmed.

"Thanks," Roxas threw out before shoving the blankets off of himself and scooting off of the mattress. Axel listened as he shuffled around in the dark, at one point bumping into something and hissing out a swear. He soon climbed back into bed, to find Axel had turned his back to him. He shifted slightly as he had done before, paused, and let out a sigh.

Axel turned to find Roxas with his back turned as well. Quickly getting over his stubbornness, he turned over, spooning his lover with an arm draped over his side.

Roxas started, "Axel, I-" but fell silent as the redhead pulled him closer to his chest.

"You aren't Sora," Axel whispered into rumpled golden spikes.

He remained silent for a moment before replying with a soft, "Thanks, Axel."

---

**End Notes: **Well, not too much happened again. Just more talking. Next chapter you'll get some action! Review and get some cupcakes and a free hug!


	24. Chapter 24

**Author's Note:** Oh God, finals are coming up… So you definitely won't be getting more for at least another three weeks. But this should tide you over until then. But still, don't kill me for this thing. You'll see why you'll be tempted. Read on.

--- ---

Chapter 24

---

The first thing Axel noticed was a sharp line of light escaping through the edge of the curtain, where it didn't quite meet up with the window. The second was a weight against his bare chest, and third, soft, sweet breaths taken in and let out peacefully. He opened his eyes, not daring to move too much, lest he disturb the blond, whose head was rested on his chest, face set in a gentle expression turned towards him, eyes shut to the world.

Axel had to smile. None of his other partners had ever stayed until morning. If you could call the one-night flings partnership. They had all gotten their fill during the night and either left right after the action was over, or left before dawn. And then there was Roxas, taking in every second that he spent with him.

He reached and brushed back a stray piece of blond hair from Roxas's forehead, and those crystal blue eyes were revealed. He blinked once, and they returned with a soft smile.

Axel continued running his hands through the haphazard spikes on his lover's head. "Morning, Rox." He just hummed pleasantly in return, closing his eyes once more. Axel continued, "What're you up to?"

"Listening," the blond replied, softly poking the middle of Axel's bare chest with an index finger. "It's very reassuring."

"Reassuring, hmm? You afraid we might be heartless, like we were back then?"

Roxas shook his head slightly. "I don't know. Those dreams are so real, sometimes I still feel like I'm back then when I wake up. It's scary, you know?"

Axel smiled sadly. "Yeah, I know what you mean."

A finger trailed in patterns across his chest as they lay there for a moment in silence, before Roxas spoke up. "It's amazing how much the sound of closing heart valves can mean so much." Axel hummed in agreement. They remained there for a few minutes more before Roxas sighed and pushed himself up. "I should shower."

Axel followed Roxas to his sitting position, wrapping an arm loosely about his waist and nuzzling his nose into the blond spikes. "Need some company?"

Roxas turned slightly, looking unsure. "You sure?"

"Always."

"Even after last night?" Roxas narrowed his eyes just slightly, prying.

The redhead set his jaw and resisted a twitch. "I don't give a shit about Riku."

"Yes you do. I know you too well to believe that." Axel could feel him slouch just slightly as he dipped his head down, almost in shame.

He drew the blond closer, protectively, possessively. "All the more reason to make sure that you're mine."

Roxas turned, lightly pressing his palm to Axel's chest. "But you know that I am yours, or you should at least."

The redhead smirked and responded softly, "Like a heartbeat, it's nice to be reassured."

"Yeah, that's true." The hand slipped from Axel's chest and their gazes melted into one another. "Alright, let's go."

"Lead the way, _Key_," he said slyly, winking at his partner.

"My pleasure, _Flurry_," Roxas shot back in much the same manner before slipping off of the mattress and tugging his undershirt over his head in one swift motion, making his way to the open bathroom door, tossing the shirt nonchalantly. The blond disappeared through the door and soon Axel heard the shower spring to life. "Hey Ax, you coming or what?" Roxas called over the sound of crashing water.

Axel smirked and tossed the covers off, dropped his boxers, and followed his boyfriend to the steamy tiled bathroom. He shut the door behind him and found the most amazing sight: Roxas standing in only his skin, hot water hitting his face and shoulders before rippling in little rivers down his beautifully soft body.

The redhead put a fist to his waist and had to resist doing a wolf-whistle. He settled on, "Hey there, sexy."

Roxas turned with an unimpressed smirk. "Shut up, Axel, and get in here already." He complied with his lover's request, sweeping up the bar of soap on his way.

"Need me to get your back?" Axel growled seductively into the blond's ear and he could almost see the pleased shiver that ran down his spine before Roxas nodded. He lathered the soap in his hands before running them the full length of his back and back up again, working the suds into his skin. Roxas relaxed into the touch, head thrown back and soft moans issuing from his mouth. "How about the front?" Axel breathed, pulling at the complying blond's shoulder. His palms moved down the petit chest, rising and falling in deep, hot breaths. After a moment, Roxas took the soap from the redhead's hand.

"Your turn." Roxas pressed on Axel and he turned obediently, reeling at the indescribable sensation of softly caressing hands moving across his shoulder blades, spine, and everywhere else in between. The blond pressed his chest against the curve of Axel's back, reaching his arms around his slim waist and proceeded to soap the man's chest. Axel released a moan as soapy fingers trailed across his skin and teased at his perked nipples. Impatience turned up to the max, the redhead took the bar of soap and turned, running it down Roxas's side, around his ass, and down his leg. He pulled the blond closer with his other arm before lifting the blond's leg and hooking it around his waist. Roxas threw his arms around Axel's neck, pulling their mouths together in a hot open-mouthed kiss, punctuated by their heavy and needy breathing.

Axel gazed at Roxas looking up at him in anticipation, cheeks flushed and dripping from the cascading hot water. Both of them were quite aware that they hadn't done this since the disaster in the office.

"No one's going to walk in this time," Roxas reassured his boyfriend at his hesitation. Axel knew that was true, but the fear still lingered. But he finally figured that the thought of getting caught was nothing in comparison with the thought of Roxas, Roxas and more Roxas.

"Even if the whole world walked in, I wouldn't care." At that, Axel shoved Roxas against the tiled shower stall, latching his mouth on the blond's neck and rolling his hips against his boyfriend's hard-on. Roxas gasped, pressing his head back against the shower wall, trying to pull Axel closer by dragging his blunt nails across whatever bit of the redhead's back he could reach.

"P-please, Axel," the blond keened, arcing his back away from the cold tiles. Axel could _feel_ the kid's need, not unlike how he felt his own desperate desires. Putting aside any remaining thoughts besides _Roxas_,_ Roxas_,_ Roxas_, Axel plunged himself deeply into the blond, who sharply moaned, grinding the back of his head into the wall as he craned his neck back. The redhead took opportunity of the exposed sensitive spot and dragged his teeth across pale, delicate skin as he began moving in and out of his lover.

Helpless to the onslaught brought upon him by his partner, Roxas simply latched himself tightly around Axel's neck, accepting the almost punishing but unbearably pleasing thrusts. Moans split through the rain of hot water, still crashing down on their moving bodies, long washed of any soap that may have clung to their skin.

It was… such a relief. A weight that he hadn't known was there was lifted from Axel's shoulders. Their pasts were shoved aside and the future forgotten for the moment. It was just them, steam, and sex. They went on, giving and taking equally, moving in perfect sync with one another, needy lips latching onto skin and releasing moans of ecstasy. Roxas reached his climax first, choking out Axel's name, which in turn sent the redhead to his own climax, spilling himself into the blond.

Roxas collapsed against the wall, Axel leaning over him, supporting himself with outstretched arms. They both sucked in needy breaths, recovering from the exertion.

Axel smirked. "I think we need to soap up again." Roxas responded by throwing a hand around the back of his neck and pulling him into a passionate kiss. He broke away, an amused smirk on his face.

"Good idea," he breathed, ducking under Axel's arms and retrieving the bar of soap that had slid away in the action. He scrubbed it quickly over his body before handing it to his partner, who gratefully took it and mimicked the action. Just then, an obnoxious telephone ring came from beyond the closed bathroom door.

"Probably just Demyx," Axel waved off the noise as ex-Number XIII stood under the direct stream of water, rinsing off the soap once again. "I'm surprised he didn't call sooner."

Roxas scooted over to allow his boyfriend to rinse off. "He was probably busy with Zexion." He winked up at Axel, who scrunched his face in mock disgust.

They finished with their shower soon enough and dried off, then in went in search of fresh boxers in the redhead's pigsty of a room. As Roxas pulled together somewhat of a decent outfit that would have to last him until he went back home, Axel picked up his phone, not bothering to change out of his towel just yet. Indeed, the mohawked blond had called.

The line rang three times before the perky blond answered. "_Hey, Axel! I knew you were still alive. Sorry I didn't call earlier, I had to go to my mom's place and hook up her TV, which wasn't the best idea-"_ Axel continued listening to his best friend ramble on about how he knew next to nothing about electronics and ultimately turned his attention to his boyfriend, picking around the clothes on the floor after having retrieved yet another pair of boxers from the dresser.

He cupped his hand over the receiver for a moment to give Roxas some instruction, since he seemed to be having a bit of trouble. "The pile right in front of the dresser is clean, Rox."

"And you don't actually use your furniture _why_?" Roxas shot back, a teasing grin on his face.

Axel just smirked and flipped him off casually before turning his full attention back to Demyx, who was still talking.

"-_it'd be good for the two of you, you know? Keep your asses from chafing from all that free time that you have now."_

"Sorry, Dem, but what the hell were you talking about? Roxas was distracting me." Axel heard Roxas chuckle from the other side of the room.

"_I said you two should come to my place tonight for a celebration. Like, with movies and booze to cheer you up_."

Ah, just what Axel had in mind. Well, that and drowning himself in sex, but that must've been what Demyx had referred to when he said the thing about chafed asses. He pulled the phone away from his face and addressed his boyfriend. "Hey Rox, want to go to Demyx's place tonight?"

Roxas pulled out a shirt, eying the piece of clothing, and responded with a distracted, "Sure."

"Sure," Axel repeated into the phone, and he was met by an explosion of excitement from his best friend.

"_Fantastic! I'll see you two around eight, then. You can bring the popcorn._"

Axel rolled his eyes. "Kettle or butter?"

"Kettle," Roxas answered, at the same time as Demyx, who responded with the same answer.

"Whatever you want, princess," Axel chided, sending Roxas a wink. He turned back to the phone. "Okay, we'll be there at eight. Yeah, see ya." He hung up on his best friend before he could start rambling on about anything and everything and looked up to find Roxas settling down in his lap, straddling his legs. Green eyes widened. "Well, hello there."

The blond tucked a damp lock of red hair behind Axel's ear, a glowing sort of smirk spread across his cheeks. "Eight at Demyx's place, hmm?"

Axel pressed his lips to Roxas's. "That's the plan." He paused for a brief moment. "Rox, you're gonna get your boxers all wet from my towel."

Roxas tilted his head slyly, shooting back, "Technically, they're _your_ boxers."

Long fingers toyed with the waistband that was at least a few inches too loose. "Indeed," he crooned, continuing to play with the clothing item. That close, simple intimacy was what Axel had missed the most, he realized. Even if it had happened once in a blue moon in their previous life, it was always the redhead's favorite. Sure, the sex was amazing, but it was just that. This was a deeper connection. It required… something else.

Axel pressed a palm to the blond's chest, clad in an overly long undershirt, feeling a steady throb beneath his hand. Everything just felt _right_.

"What're _you_ up to?" Roxas repeated the redhead's words from before.

Axel opened his eyes that he hadn't known had slid shut and smiled. "Feeling," he responded softly. Roxas returned the smile, knowing exactly what his boyfriend meant. They were silent for a minute before Axel voiced a question he had been mulling over. "Hey Rox, did you ever tell anyone about us? Like, tell them that you were going to meet me back at the office the night before last?"

Roxas pulled away just slightly, so he could look the redhead in the eye, a prying look overcoming his features. "Of course I didn't. I-" He stopped, suddenly, a pale shock overcoming him. He pulled his hand to cover his mouth, hissing between his fingers, horrified, "Shit. I might've mentioned it to someone." He dropped his arm from his mouth, biting his bottom lip.

"Who?" Axel wanted to know so he could kill that mother fucker who-

"Zexion."

---

"Zexy, they're here!" The blond called over his shoulder just after he had pulled open the front door to his apartment, Roxas and Axel washed in the light streaming out.

"I know, I heard the doorbell ring, Demyx," they heard the distant bemused reply from the mohawked blond's boyfriend. And that last fact made everything so fucking fantastically complicated, Axel didn't even know where to start.

Axel had to keep his blood from boiling over and struggled to remain passive about his question. "Zexion's here?"

Demyx shoved his fists on his hips in defiance, a sneering smirk on his face. " What, you get to bring your boyfriend, but I can't bring mine? How crude, Axel!"

Roxas butted in, shoving the plastic wrapped paper bags containing little pieces of heaven at the taller blond. "We brought the popcorn."

Demyx turned away from his staring contest with the redhead. He let out a huff at his best friend. "Kettle, I hope." He received the bags and inspected them, still blocking Axel and Roxas's entrance into the apartment. Not that the redhead wanted to come anywhere near the one who more likely than not revealed to their boss of the office sex plan. As if it were some secret spy mission or from one of those Mini Cooper ass-kicking stealing-type gigs. The red Mini was Axe's favorite.

"The only kind," Roxas assured him, which instantly brought Demyx's fake bad mood up to an extreme rapture.

"Thank you! Thank you, thank you for understanding!" He practically threw himself on Roxas, smothering him in an overly energetic hug before releasing him as quick as he had initiated it. "Not many people enjoy the purity of sugared popcorn."

Axel shrugged. "I could go either way, personally."

Demyx stared his best friend in the eye challengingly. "Well, let's hope that's the only thing you go both ways on, then." Roxas snorted as Axel rolled his eyes. "Come in," the slightly more than temporarily insane blond continued, "you're letting the warm air out."

The redhead quirked his eyebrows. "But it's the same temperature as-"

"Ignoring!" Demyx turned on his heel and proceeded to walk into his apartment, past the kitchen and to the living room, Roxas and Axel following like fucking ducklings. Demyx threw himself down on the couch currently occupied by his boyfriend, practically falling on top of him in the process. "Zexy and I picked up a few movies, so we'll have a vote for which one we watch first." Axel and Roxas settled themselves in the second couch, and all four poured over the small pile of DVDs sitting on the coffee and other mysterious fluid-stained coffee table.

After settling on The Illusionist, popping the kettle corn, and Demyx practically having an orgasm over the sweet popcorn – Roxas most likely would have as well if he hadn't already had one that morning, which was saying something about Demyx's sex life – they finally started the movie.

Not too far into it, Axel decided it was time to break out the booze. "Hey Dem, I'm raiding your fridge for some Bud. You don't have to pause."

"Hey, get me one, too," Roxas instructed his boyfriend. They were both promptly shushed by Demyx, who was completely and utterly engrossed in the movie playing across the tacky thrift store television screen.

Axel left for the kitchen, through the closed door, and opened the fridge, finding a fresh stash of booze. Oh, did his best friend know him or what? He pulled two of the amber bottles from the fridge shelf and put them on the counter. He was about to go in search of a bottle opener when the kitchen door opened and shut.

"I can't help but notice that you've been ignoring me to the fullest extent of your capabilities," a cold, collected voice washed over Axel, sending a chill down his spine, which immediately turned into white hot rage. He spun, forgetting his mission to bring beer to his boyfriend, and came face to face with… _Zexion_. _Number VI. The Cloaked Schemer._

He seized the shorter, silver-blue haired man by his collar, all the anger and acrimony emanating from him like an angry bee hive. If he'd still been a nobody, flames would have been surrounding them by now and licking Zexion's flesh underneath Axel's clenching fist.

"You told Cid about me and Roxas, didn't you? I got screwed over, thanks to your little anonymous tip," he growled, staring into dull, stone cold blue eyes.

His eyes flashed dangerously and his hand shot up, grabbing Axel's wrist, his grip punishing. He responded in a voice that was calm but dark. "You killed me, Axel. I think I'm entitled to some revenge."

Axel froze, letting all defenses crumble. He knew? He _remembered_?

His state of shock was cut short by a savage blow with a fist full of rage, struck across Axel's face.

Even then, all Axel could think was one thought.

He remembered.

---

**End Notes:** OH SHIT!!! Am I right? I told you that you'd get some action, and hey, you got both sex and physical violence! What a great chapter.


	25. Chapter 25

**Author's Note: **Sorry about the wait! Finals and the summer lazys happened. And sorry about the shortness of this chapter. I needed to split it so that there would be enough crap in the next one.

**Other Junk:** Funny story. On my way back from university, I stayed at a hotel, on the 8th floor. I got to walk by room 813 about ten times, which made me inexplicably happy. If this doesn't ring a bell, go re-read chapter 7. Oh, also when I was playing The Sims 2, my Axel character somehow got fired from his business job. Trippy, huh? Anyhow. What're you doing still reading this? Get to reading!

--- ---

Chapter 25

---

Axel simply stood in Demyx's kitchen, holding the side of his face in shock while enraged deep blue eyes bored holes into his soul. Just for the sake of being morbidly poetic. It took all of the redhead's willpower to keep from staggering backwards from the blow. A white hot pain was suddenly quite discernable on his cheekbone, as was a more than slight sting on his nose, and he could barely feel a trickle of blood making its way down his upper lip.

"You're so fucking selfish," Zexion hissed. He wasn't angry. He was fucking _livid_. Damn, Axel couldn't really blame him for that. But still, he felt a deep need to defend his actions that he barely believed were right in the first place.

"You would've done the same for Demyx." He threw in his own acidity, unwilling to back down that easily. Fuck, his face hurt.

Zexion snarled, "Thanks to you, I never got the chance." For a man who stood little taller than Roxas, he was a force to be reckoned with. But so was Axel.

The redhead could feel his blood begin to boil. "Well, now you do, asshole. You should be thankful you got that."

"I don't see how you deserve it, too." The shorter man pressed on, "You're a deceiving, devious fucking liar, Axel. You never should have existed in the first place." And with that, he had gone too far.

Axel snapped, grabbing Zexion by his collar with both hands shaking in rage, and slammed him against the counter hard enough to leave sizeable bruises. His tone was dark and threatening, as were his acidic eyes. "You don't know me."

Zexion met him eye-to-eye, replying slowly and menacingly, "Oh contraire."

It had gone on long enough, and Axel had to take his best friend into account, putting the blond before his own blood-lust. The ex-Cloaked Schemer was released by still raging hands, Zexion shoving himself free. "I'm not going to keep fighting with you, for the sake of Demyx." His gaze bore holes into Zexion's. "But you'd better get this memorized: I'm his best friend now, and if you do anything to hurt him, I'll make you _beg_ to whatever God you worship to let you fade away."

"Fine by me," he spat back. He took a deep, calming breath before thrusting his right hand out, just a little reluctant, for a handshake. "I'm calling a truce: You ruined my life before, and I repaid the favor."

Axel scrutinized the offered hand, gaze flickering from the man's expression to the handshake. "Fine." He clasped the hand with his own, squeezing it harder than necessary. The contact broke away quickly. "But I haven't forgiven you."

Zexion leered up at him. "Likewise."

The door to the kitchen opened once more, drawing the gazes of the reluctant peacemakers.

Demyx poked around the corner, Roxas following closely behind, questioning questions across their faces. The apartment renter posed a question that was never quite finished. "What's taking you so-" He stopped as soon as his gaze fell to Axel, whose cheek was split, the skin around it purpling while a trickle of blood was slowly making its way down his upper lip, his nose growing puffy from the impact. "Holy shit, what happened?" His voice rose with shock.

Axel turned and wrenched open the drawer that he knew contained the bottle opener. "We're just working out some _differences_," he growled, grabbing the tool for the beers he had previously retrieved from the fridge. Roxas pushed his way past Demyx, who seemed frozen in place in the doorway, throwing mental daggers at Zexion as he quickly made his way to his boyfriend's side.

Zexion glared at the linoleum floor. "But they're worked out, so forget it," he said in his usual cool and unemotional tone.

Demyx became suddenly aware of the entire situation, like a giant spotlight had brightened the scene. "Forget it?" His voice was shrill. "Zexion, you hit my best friend in the face in my _kitchen_." He flinched visibly at the accusation.

Before Zexion could stumble through an explanation, Axel jumped in. "Go easy on him, Dem; I deserved it."

Roxas, who was inspecting the damage on his boyfriend's face, a protective fury growing in his eyes, suddenly stopped, gaze widening for a second before softening in understanding. Axel's pain was barely noticeable due to the sudden numbness that usually comes after a wound is inflicted. It was the guilt that Roxas saw in him that really hurt. Hey, maybe this was payback for his actions in his previous life. He got his partner, only to realize that he'd killed his best friend's lover way back when. What a strange universe he had been created in. But Axel supposed it was just, in a twisted way. His joy brought along by Roxas came with a heavy price, and he was feeling that price in the deepest, darkest corner of his heart.

Demyx stared, wide-eyed, at his best friend. Axel knew he didn't believe him. "Deserved…?" The mohawked blond shook his head. "Whatever the hell it was, don't take it out on each other in my house."

Zexion's expression had calmed into his usual emotionless mask. He walked, or glided, more like, over to the one he had been best friends as well as lovers with and took his hand gently, reassuringly, the blond looking down at him, seemingly torn. "It's alright, Demyx," Zexion reassured him smoothly. "We're fine now. We worked it out." He stole a sharp glance at Axel.

The redhead drew himself out of his fog of guilt enough to offer a gruff, "Yeah, what he said."

Roxas drew his boyfriend's gaze back to him, cerulean eyes understanding and forgiving. "You're going to need some ice and a band-aid for that," he said softly, fingers ghosting over the contours of Axel's face. He sighed. At least he had Roxas.

The pair were blind to the intense stair that Demyx bestowed upon Zexion, unspoken communication exchanged between them. "I'll get you a band-aid," the mohawked blond spoke up before slipping out of the room, leaving his boyfriend standing uneasily in his wake. Axel took the moment of silence to open the freezer and dig for icepack.

The remaining blond waited for the door of the kitchen to shut before he addressed Zexion, voice controlled as best he could. Even Axel could barely discern the hint of lingering anger. "So, you remember, too."

The blue-haired man turned to face him, a grim look washing over his features. "The Cloaked Schemer, at your service. Or at least I was until your boyfriend came along." There it was, that accusation that further ground in the spike of guilt into Axel's chest.

Roxas shook his head solemnly. "We all did crazy things in order to become somebodies back then."

Axel snorted bitterly and surfaced from the icebox with a bag of frozen peas. He then went in search of a towel to cover it with so the intense cold wouldn't freeze the skin off of his damaged nose.

The blond ignored Axel, making himself useful by retrieving a paper towel and dampened it in the sink to help clean Axel's split cheek. "I'm guessing that Demyx hasn't remembered yet," he ventured tentatively, sparing a glance at the sixth Organization member, who looked away with a scowl.

Axel smirked, no amusement in his eyes, the makeshift icepack in hand. "Jump him in his sleep." He sat heavily on one of the chairs surrounding the cheap collapsible card table that posed as a kitchen slash dining table. "It worked for Roxas, here."

Roxas rolled his eyes at that and groaned. "Axel…" He let the subject drop and turned the conversation back on track. "He'll probably remember eventually. If not, then be happy that you have him now." He followed Axel and pulled out a chair to sit in front of him, beginning to gently dab the bruising cut on his cheek with the damp paper towel.

Zexion let out a long breath. "Right," he said, rubbing his side where Axel had slammed him into the counter, drawing the attention of the redhead.

"You need some peas?" He offered, holding out the frozen bag of vegetables that had been in his best friend's freezer for who knows how long.

"I'll survive, thanks," he replied a bit coldly, holding true to his promise to not forgive the redhead. "Don't need Demyx worrying any more than necessary."

As if on cue, the man walked into the room, a very suspicious look in his eye, which he rounded on his boyfriend. "Why would I worry more?"

Axel jumped to his defense quickly. "Nothing, Demyx darling." He snatched the band-aid that was clutched in his hand.

Demyx turned back to Zexion with a narrowed gaze. "Really?"

"Really," his boyfriend reassured him, wrapping an arm around his waist and leading him out of the room, whether Demyx wanted to or not. It might have seemed a bit controlling, but Axel knew his best friend almost better than he knew himself, and he knew that the quirky blond needed to be guided once and a while. Hell, he'd done it himself on many occasions. Axel figured it was a sort of comfort that the blond needed – a sort of need to be mothered.

A light kiss on his mouth brought Axel from his thoughts and back to the real world, which had begun to spring back to life with a raging pain that seared up his nose and into his forehead. "You alright?" Came a question softer than the kiss.

"I got punched in the face and I feel guilty as fuck, but besides that, I'm peachy," Axel drawled, massaging the bridge of his nose. Roxas tore open the band-aid package in silence and quickly applied it over the broken skin. Axel sighed, unable to meet the questioning and sincere gaze of his lover. "I keep trying to tell myself that it was worth it to kill him, but in the end-"

Roxas silenced him with another prodding kiss before pulling away slowly. "Hey, you got me in the end, right? You have me now." Oh, did he ever.

Axel snorted a mirthless laugh. "I hope you appreciate the effort."

"More than you know." The smile he got was one that didn't often cross the blond's face. It was one of pure gratitude and caring. A part of Axel melted with relief – a part that he hadn't been able to feel in his previous life. It was like a conclusion to that chapter in his spirit. Axel had to laugh at himself, at all these feelings that washed over him in that brief moment in time.

Before he knew it, Axel had pulled Roxas into his arms, trying his best to absorb him like some kind of human sponge. "That's good to hear," he whispered into precious yellow spikes. Good couldn't even begin to describe it. He pulled away after a moment, a playful grimace on his face. "Okay, now we're getting sappy." Roxas chuckled in agreement as Axel instructed him. "Go grab the beers so we can get back to the movie and drown our sorrows with booze. Fuck, I need it even more now."

Roxas nodded, sitting back in his chair and folding his arms across his chest. "Yeah, but only if you put that icepack on. Your nose is getting pretty huge, which isn't very flattering."

"Way to blow my self-esteem. Thanks, Rox. It doesn't help that I have to cover my shame with damned frozen vegetables." Emerald eyes rolled.

The blond smirked and jumped on the opportunity to make up for his back-handed comment. "Well, there is something else that _is_ flattering when it gets huge." His gaze flickered down to Axel's lap and back up, making the redhead's eyebrows fly up in interest. Roxas continued, the very tip of his tongue sweeping over his lower lip as he leaned forward just slightly. "Oh, did I mention that you're wicked in bed? And shower, desk, bathroom stall-" A loud thump cut the list short and both of their attentions were turned to see the mowhawked blond recovering from where he had tripped over the threshold of the kitchen door.

Demyx cleared his throat, which came out as more of a choking cough than anything else. "_Woah_, did I walk in at a bad time. Awkward fucking turtle, much?"

Axel grinned at his best friend's marvelous entrance to the room. "Come on, Dem, you've heard worse." Demyx opened his mouth to protest, but closed it again in defeat. Axel one, Demyx _zero_. The redhead grinned in triumph, shoving himself out of the chair.

Demyx pouted. "Ax, you corrupt me too much."

In his defense, Axel pointed out a very genuine fact. "Actually, that last one was all Roxie." He smirked and mussed his boyfriend's spikes, earning a brief scowl. "Good job, kid."

Roxas's cheeks brightened in a light blush as he stood and busied himself by shoving his chair back in its original spot. "Can we get back to the movie now?"

Axel pointed to counter. "Beers."

Roxas, in turn, pointed to Axel's face. "Peas." He couldn't argue with that logic.

The three of them left the kitchen to join Zexion in the living room, each couple taking up a loveseat that matched Axel's, since they had bought all three for an amazing bargain. Axel leaned against one of the arms, Roxas seated between his legs and resting against his chest, and instead of handfuls of popcorn, they were both nursing their bottles of amber liquid. The second couple was in a much less bodily intimate situation, the pair holding hands with Demyx sneaking uncertain glances between Zexion and the redhead.

Axel sighed internally. If only Demyx remembered…

---

**End Notes:** If only, if only! BUAHAHAA! Just wait until next chapter, when I wind this baby up! Yes, you read that correctly. Ta ta for now!


	26. Chapter 26

**Author's Note: **Hey, it's about time, eh? Yeah. Summer got the best of me, as did my summer classes. So, here's a big ol' SORRY for having to wait for this chapter. And yes, this is the last one. But be sure to read the note at the end for a surprise.

Enjoy!

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Chapter 26

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Another movie and a few beers later, Axel had quite forgotten about the scuffle in the kitchen with his best friend's boyfriend. Roxas, who was a complete lightweight, as Axel discovered, was drifting back and forth between a drunken stupor and a state where he thought that everything was the most hilarious thing in the world. After much persuasion, the two got Demyx to partake in the merriment that was cheep booze, but they weren't lucky enough to get Zexion on the bandwagon.

At one point, Axel tried to start up a game of Ten Fingers during a quiet part of whatever movie they had decided on, which was quickly thrown out by Demyx stating, rather matter-of-factly, that Axel always lost first and that it was pointless. Which, in turn, sent Roxas on yet another fit of giggles, followed by Zexion coolly reminding them that they were in the middle of a serious scene in the film.

The movie came to an end, after another round of drinks, naturally, and a bout of singing obnoxiously along with the credits song, provided by both Roxas and Axel, Demyx joining in after a bit. Axel, in his more than usually daring drunken state, gave a juggling show out of the empty beer bottles while standing on the coffee table amongst the empty bags of kettle corn. Needless to say, he got a standing ovation before he just about fell off of the table into Roxas's arms, who was barely able to keep them both from toppling over. They did end up collapsing back onto the loveseat, Demyx still applauding from his spot, draped over Zexion's lap.

His ex-job and Cid were the last things on Axel's mind, which was exactly his goal for the evening. Well, that and get down and dirty with Roxas, but he wasn't so sure that one would be able to get fulfilled. There was that one little nagging thing in the back of his brain telling him that he needed to clear things up with Demyx. And that needed some one-on-one best friend talking shit.

Seeing your boyfriend punch your best friend out of the blue in a blind rage didn't seem like a good place to be without having at least a little back story. Axel's dilemma was that the back story would be just as, if not more confusing than the actual event. He didn't want to freak out Demyx more than he already was. But taking advantage of his slightly more than tipsy state would help to ease him into the idea.

Zexion took the initiative and announced that, if he were going to be functional at all the next day, he would have to take himself home and sleep. He had the least to worry about, though. He was the only one who wasn't going to get a splitting headache when they woke up.

"Hey Zexion," Axel caught the slate-haired man before he wandered out of the movie room, "would you mind giving Roxas a ride home? I really don't want to get a DUI." Roxas, who was sprawled out over him, perked up slightly at the mention of his name.

Zexion paused, calculating eyes boring into Axel's slightly alcohol-induced hazy eyes. "Sure thing," he replied after a moment before following Demyx out of the room.

Roxas pushed himself up in order to fully see Axel's face. "I'm not staying at your place again?" He sounded disappointed.

Axel sighed, just as much disheartened by his decision. He brushed the bangs that were more than their usual mess out of his boyfriend's eyes. "I really should stay and talk to Demyx. Plus, I don't trust myself to drive right now."

"But you trust the guy who punched you in the face to drive me home? That makes a whole lot of sense." Even in his not-quite-there drunken state, Roxas managed to be not at all happy about the situation. Axel didn't blame him.

It was getting harder and harder for Axel to refuse his bed with a hot and drunk Roxas pleading for him. "Please, Roxas. He really needs me to talk to him." It was amazing how much one person had such an influence over him.

Roxas sighed in resignation. "If you decide to tell him the truth, at least use _some_ form of tact."

"Like the tact you used, mister 'I'll just jump him in his sleep and see if that works?'"

Roxas groaned, dropping his head to Axel's chest. "You're never going to let me live that one down, are you?"

"Not likely anytime soon," Axel joked, running his long fingers through Roxas's blond spikes. "No, I really don't think it's my place to tell him about all of that. I'll leave that to Zexion. Though I might push him in the right direction."

Roxas pressed himself up on slightly uneasy arms. "Alright. I'll see you tomorrow, then?"

Axel smirked. "Definitely. I'll call you when I get up, whether or not I have a hangover."

"Aw, you must really love me," Roxas drawled, throwing his arms around Axel's neck, eyes droopy and not all the way there.

"You bet." Roxas pressed a kiss to his lips, being mindful of the redhead's injuries as well as his alcohol-saturated mind could. He parted his lips, body radiating heat, none-too gently forcing his tongue into Axel's mouth. He was receptive to a point, up until those slim hips began moving sloppily over his. No matter how much Axel didn't want to stop, he knew, somewhere deep within his mind, that having hot, drunk sex on his best friend's couch with him and his boyfriend in the other room wasn't quite the best thing to do. Because it certainly seemed to be where they were headed. He pulled away reluctantly, stilling the blond's movement, much to Roxas's disappointment. "Save that for tomorrow, Rox. Zexion is waiting for you."

Roxas let out a huff, pressing away from his boyfriend. "Promise me that we'll get drunk together again and fuck each other's brains out."

Axel smirked up at him. "Even if we can't remember a thing in the morning."

"Great." Roxas grinned giddily. Axel chuckled. He must _really_ be drunk.

"Goodnight, Rox," Axel said softly, pressing a chaste kiss to the corner of Roxas's mouth.

"I'm leaving!" A call from Zexion in the other room brought the pair back to reality.

Roxas, quite suddenly, jumped up off of couch, calling back a hasty, "Hold on!" He turned back to Axel, swaying just slightly as he did so. "Be sure to keep that iced," he instructed, pointing to Axel's puffy and slightly bruising nose.

"Go get some sleep, Roxie."

Before he knew it, he was lying on a pile of blankets at the foot of Demyx's bed, just as he had done when they were growing up, or whenever he was shit-faced and couldn't drive himself home, such as was his predicament. Though, this time, he wasn't about to pass out and puke his guts out sometime in the middle of the night from overconsumption of alcohol. He had quite a different purpose.

"Hey Dem, have you dreamed recently?" He asked casually once his best friend was settled in his own bed, the lights off save the tiny nightlight Demyx always had to have plugged in.

Demyx didn't respond for a moment. "Yeah, I guess," he replied after a moment before falling silent once more. Axel didn't know how much time passed before his best friend posed a question that caught his attention. "Hey Ax, do you ever get those dreams that you remember having before?"

"What, like recurring dreams?" Axel asked cautiously. He wasn't exactly sure where he was going with this.

Demyx seemed to struggle with the answer. "Kind of. But they aren't all the same."

Axel paused. Maybe, just maybe… "Dem, does Number IX mean anything to you?"

He could almost see Demyx's eyes widen. "How did you know that? That's what everyone calls me in my dreams."

Axel slowly began to smile. Time to test it. "How about Organization XIII?"

Demyx laughed uneasily. "Dude, you're freaking me out. How do you know that? Have I told you this before?" So he was in the beginning stages of remembering. Nothing concrete, just little bits of information, it seemed.

It was enough. Demyx was remembering, Axel knew that much. He didn't want to push it any further than that. "You need to have a good ol' heart-to-heart with your boyfriend. He should be the one to explain it to you." He had the right to.

He heard the mattress squeak under Demyx and he figured that his best friend had sat up. "Axel, What the hell? What'll Zexion explain? Is this some plot that you have with him? Is that why he punched you?" He was trying to make up excuses. Sounded familiar.

"I have the same dreams, Dem, and so does he." Demyx was silent. "It's about time you had them too."

Demyx was quiet for a moment before asking softly, "What do you mean?"

"We have hearts now," Axel ventured while his best friend remained silent. "It took me until now to figure out how to use it, and you know? I'm pretty damn happy now that I'm complete." Now it was Demyx's turn to realize its potential.

A pregnant silence followed. "You mean… I'm not going crazy?"

Axel chuckled, sympathizing with him. "I sure hope not."

Demyx fell back onto his bed, sounding quite bewildered, and still slightly tipsy. "Shit, I thought you were just slipping something into my lunch at work. So, it really did happen?"

"Talk to Zexion, Dem." Axel refused to give him anymore information. He must use some form of tact, as Roxas had ordered.

"Then, you and Roxas…" he didn't even have to finish the thought. It was already clear.

"Yep," Axel answered simply. Yep, they had known each other since their past lives, yep they had been sleeping together back then as well, yep, they really were together, finally.

Demyx let out a harsh sigh. "Shit. I still must be drunk off my ass." Well, there was one way of taking it. He might not even remember their conversation in the morning. But eventually, Axel knew, he would, and he would present it to Zexion, and it'd be all over.

Axel chuckled. "Sleep it off, then." He yawned, feeling an alcohol-induced coma-like sleep coming on. "I think I will, too."

"A heart, huh?" Demyx mumbled before drifting off, the alcohol also getting the better of him.

"Congratulations, Dem."

---

"You need to lay off the aphrodisiacs, Rox." The following afternoon found Axel and Roxas in the redhead's overly messy apartment, the blond coaxing his boyfriend into the bedroom, the latter of which had decided to make it as teasingly hard to do as possible and was failing miserably.

"Lay off you? Fuck no." His eyes shifted mischievously. "Lay, maybe, but not off." Nimble hands worked at Axel's fly as they slowly made their way out of the living room. "It's not exactly drunk ass fucking. You still owe me that." The words licked Axel's ears seductively, and he knew that Roxas wouldn't forget that promise until it actually happened. Axel wasn't planning on waiting very long.

"Yeah, yeah. I got it."

Roxas pushed him past the doorway and into the dark bedroom. "Now you have to pay for that awkward car ride with Zexion driving me to my house." Oh, so this was revenge?

Axel allowed his hand to wander down the blond's back, fingers barely able to fit under the tight-fitting pants. "It was that bad?"

Roxas grinned, flushing slightly at the intrusion. "I actually don't remember most of it. But I'm pretty sure it was awkward." He shoved Axel none too gently onto his back on top of the mattress, standing at the foot with an animalistic smirk.

"My sincerest apologies," Axel growled, deep and seducing. "How will I ever make it up to you?"

"By holding still," he instructed, wasting no time, tearing the redhead's down past his waist, boxers quickly following. Oh, _oh_, _this_ was how he was going to torture him, huh? Roxas pressed a hot kiss on his exposed inner thigh, ignoring the halfway-aroused member clearly in need of attention. A tongue followed the kisses, still ignoring the problem, which didn't take long to become a big deal to the redhead, who moaned at the small touches. The hot breath, the steaming kisses just barely missing where he wanted them to be… Roxas really did know exactly how to drive him up the wall.

It seemed like an eternity that Roxas teased him, Axel just about convulsing in agony, when his mouth finally found his desperate member. The moan that split from the redhead's throat was one of a man finally having the relief of one so deprived of something that it consumed his entire being. The lips, the tongue, the throat, the deep hum that vibrated and passed through his body. His mouth formed the blond's name, against his own volition. Hands held him down when he tried to encourage more movement, further torturing him. The motions were so feeling, so well-thought out, so practiced…

_Riku!_

The memory of Roxas crying out the name in his sleep imposed upon his pleasure-constricted mind. Axel was wrenched back to reality, like waking up from a dream. He had done this with him, with that bastard who had taken him away to present to DiZ. He had thought, once upon a time, that Riku was the one he was supposed to be waiting for. It was wrong, so _wrong_…

"What happened?" The feeling was gone, the question piercing through the silence that had sprouted up while Axel wasn't paying attention.

Axel returned from his thoughts in a haze. "Hn?" He looked down, seeing Roxas kneeling in front of his limp member. "Oh shit, sorry."

Roxas sighed, disappointment written all over him. He shoved the pants he had so recently pulled down back over Axel's hips and climbed over him, straddling his chest. He looked down seriously at his boyfriend. "Alright, what's up?"

He could see that Roxas knew that something was off. It wasn't like him to lose interest, especially when it was Roxas who was making him feel. "Just- I don't know…"

Roxas didn't believe him, not that Axel expected otherwise. He quirked his head and prodded, "You sure?"

"No, actually." He knew that he couldn't lie to him. Roxas knew him well enough to see right past his facades. "No. I just can't stop thinking about Riku and that dream that you had."

He could see the guilt fall over Roxas like a veil. He closed his eyes for a moment, briefly drawing back into himself. "Oh, that again." Their gazes locked, an honest connection, neither hiding from the other. "I told you that he meant nothing. I was just confused by all the dreams."

Axel prodded further. He needed to _know._ "How so?"

Roxas didn't hesitate. He simply launched into his explanation, not withholding anything from his lover. "I knew that there was something missing. Someone. He was the clearest one at the time, so I thought he was the one. But then I started seeing you in my dreams and I realized that it wasn't Riku who I was looking for. It was you; it's always been _you_. The dreams I've been getting of Sora and Riku are just reassuring me of the solid fact that I'm supposed to be waiting for you." He lowered his gaze and sighed forcefully before meeting him with wide eyes, his voice desperate. "Can you see that and get past this?"

"I'll try, alright?" Axel snaked a hand behind Roxas's neck, fingers playing reassuringly with the hairs at the nape of his neck. Cerulean eyes closed, relaxing into the touch.

"Please do. I need you to understand that he's gone and he's never coming back." His gaze snapped on Axel's, open hostility reflecting in his expression, a sadistic grin spreading across his cheeks. "And if he does, you have my permission to punch him in the balls. Good?"

Axel chuckled. "Fine by me. One for this life and one for the last."

Happy with that response, Roxas leaned in and kissed Axel's neck, tone not menacing in the slightest. "It's not like you haven't had partners before me." And he was entirely right, though he himself did not think of them as partners. They were sexual relief, at the most.

Axel flipped Roxas under him, grinning and whispering seductively, "They were mistakes. You're all that matters to me." And there was the harsh truth.

Roxas grinned up at his love, who he had waited to find for his entire life. "We aren't mistakes this time. We were meant to live."

"Can you feel this?" a hand that, for a moment, could almost harness the power they had once held, pressed to Roxas's chest, the steady beat reminding him of all he had sacrificed and gained in return.

"It's about time."

---

The End

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**End Notes: **So, what's the surprise? Don't take this off of your watch list, and you'll see! It's one of the reasons why it took me so long to update. But it shouldn't take too long, since its about 90 percent done already. –Cackle–

Review and tell me what you think, and I'll love you forever!


	27. Chapter 27

**Author's Note:** Well, here you go! The surprise! Someone suggested that I write something along these lines in a review a LONG time ago, and I decided to take that and turn it into reality. So, here's the prologue/epilogue hybrid thing that you've been waiting for!

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Roxas

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It was wrong. He knew it was wrong, somewhere deep within his subconscious. The eyes were wrong, the heat was strange, the hair was different. It was like having a pair of shoes that looked like your own but didn't fit quite right and you know, deep down, that they're not yours. That was exactly the feeling that Roxas had gotten throughout his life. Not only was it the wrong fit, he didn't feel… whole. A piece was always missing. Missing… or already given away.

When he had met Sora, he felt like he had known him for years, and it didn't take long before they confessed that they both shared that feeling. He thought it was right, that it would finally make him feel as though he belonged in the world. They thought it was fate. They thought it was love. But in reality, they were both deceived.

Two years passed in their delusion. They thought they were happy, prying a meaning of life out of meaningless touches, heartless kisses and unfeeling lovemaking. To everyone else, they were the perfect couple. They shared everything, they never fought, they told secrets to each other. To everyone else, they were compatible to the nth degree. Their strengths and weaknesses were complimentary to each other; what one lacked, the other made up for tenfold.

Whether or not it was happiness, Roxas could not tell. It was all he had known. That was true, up until the dreams. They spoke of something deeper, more pure and raw that he had never felt before. For him, they were the most brutally honest, burning and torturous experiences. At first, they were all a jumble of pieces in time. Nothing seemed to flow together, and everything was shrouded by a cloud of confusion and darkness laced with flame. It continued in that way, up until the first dream where he saw who he really was…

---

_Legs moved when he bid them not to. His eyes blinked, his arms swayed, his head lifted, all against his will. His eyes that were not his own looked out and saw things that he did not understand. He saw a face just like his own, though much more inclined to smile at the smallest trigger. He saw brunet hair more wildly spiked than his own blond that had once existed. He saw… wrongness. It was _wrong_. Roxas tried to scream, but the lips would not permit him. He tried to claw at the face that was not his own, but the hands did not move. He tried to pry his gaze away from the horror that was looking back at him: his own reflection that did not show his real self, but the body that encased him. _

_He was forced to look into that face that was not his, that expression that he could not change and that body that he could not control. A heart he could not possess… could not use, could not give away._

It was all for nothing. Why didn't I listen to you, A-

_A single tear rolled down the cheek that was not his, and the lips that did not belong to him formed a question with a voice other than his own._

"_Why am I crying?"_

---

Why was he Sora in his dreams? Roxas questioned but got no answers. The visions continued, each one more lucid than the last, each one more horrific. They were laced by darkness, death and shadows. But there was someone, or rather, a nobody, who he could never quite recall. His features were always hidden or blocked from his memory.

There was one, however, who he felt he had some connection to. He was just as deeply embedded into him as the nobody. It was overpowering, how much he was fixated on this one man. He was in the way… he was the one he was searching for… he was the enemy… he was a best friend, lover even… he was one of the darkness and knew answers… he was…

"Riku? Are you sure we haven't met before?" Those were the first words that Roxas had spoken to him. Flowing silver hair that obscured beautiful sea-green eyes… it was just like him in his dreams. For him to be in this world and happen to meet him… to be in the same evening college class as him… it must've been fate, right?

He didn't tell Riku about Sora, and likewise kept it from his boyfriend. It was the first secret that he had kept from Sora, and it became the first time that he questioned their relationship. It was their senior year in high school, Roxas was already taking classes at the community college in addition to his normal school day. Sora was caught up in spending every waking moment while not in class with his friends, who he thought he wouldn't get to see anymore after they split to go to their separate colleges.

With both of them so busy, they hardly found time for each other. And so they began to drift apart, though they would never admit it. The dreams about Riku were increasing in frequency and clarity. Roxas convinced himself that he had been mistaken, that Sora was not the one he was looking for, it was Riku.

They would spend long nights studying for their college class. Roxas didn't care that this person, Riku, was older than him. He was in his dreams; there was nothing more that he needed to question, right?

It started with a kiss – just a taste to see if it was right. Roxas felt nothing, but he forced himself to go on, willing himself to feel as though he were complete. It was a lie, and he knew it deep within his heart, which ached with every touch from those hands. He thought that it was punishment for lying to Sora. Pure stubbornness urged him on, and he continued seeing Riku behind his boyfriend's back.

His actions were illicit, but that feeling was so thrilling to Roxas. They would meet up after class as they had before, pretending that they were studying the material as they used to. Thrilling… that ache in Roxas's chest… he mistook it for feeling. Each time, he felt emptier inside. The sex was far different than anything he had done with Sora. It was harsh and quick, and Roxas enjoyed the feeling of being overpowered by someone more experienced than him. To be used… that was what he thought his purpose had been.

He felt nothing, but he continued lying to himself. He saw that Sora had noticed him change, though he never questioned the blond. He never had before. He had always trusted Roxas. They had been each other's firsts, they had helped each other come out, and after the disaster of Roxas's father catching them in his room, they had worked it out together. But all of their history was not enough to keep them from drifting.

It was just before graduation when Roxas got another kind of dream. One without Sora or Riku.

---

_He felt nothing in his cold, hollow chest. The endless sunset spread out before him, the twilight bringing little warmth to this small world where he felt some connection. It was where he had been brought after his creation. It was a mystery who he had been, and he was determined to find out exactly who this somebody was._

"_Roxas. Have you remembered anything from your other?" That voice… it had said his name, not one of another who he was just the shadow of._

_He answered the question truthfully, gaze still upon the glowing horizon, just above that little town. "A few dreams, not much more than that. I don't even know his name. At least you can remember just about everything."_

_Long fingers ran through brilliantly red hair, spiked and glowing, as if it were made of fire. "Sometimes it's not all that great. I mean- I was another person. Sometimes I can almost feel my other, but he was just lost. I do remember what it felt like to have my heart torn out, though. Believe me; you don't want to have those memories."_

"_At least it'd be something." Bitterness at what he did not have, but wanted._

"_Well, you have memories now, right? You have… you have something."_

Arms encasing him, hot breath on his neck, teeth digging into his shoulder… a mass within him moving in and out, tearing cries of ecstasy from his lips. They moved together, fire and light becoming one, the rhythm of their bodies creating the beat that their chests could not produce. Sweat trickled down skin that burned with desire, never wanting to let go of this person who made him feel so… complete.

_Emerald green eyes that had seen all the sorrow of the world and yet felt none of their own… tattoos of tears on his cheeks that had never known sadness or joy. But they were eyes that hoped for more. They hoped for a new life, they hoped for completion, they hoped for a heart. "Y-yeah, I guess I do." Lips desperate for more sought his and they melted together into their illicit embrace. A gloved hand began unzipping his coat, and they were lost within each other once more._

---

Everything was too bright. Everything was too soft. Everything was too… wrong.

The hands on his body weren't right. His heart thundered in his chest, body reacting to the dream violently, not at all hindered by those hands coaxing him on. His eyes flew open. It was _wrong_. Silvery hair, those dark eyes, that lustful smile… it wasn't _him_.

"What the fuck're you doing?" Roxas asked him sharply, surprisingly coherent despite his condition.

Riku didn't wipe the grin off of his face. "Helping you out." He shoved the blond back onto the mattress, moving to climb on top of the hot and aroused Roxas.

"Stop it, Riku," he ground out, effectively shoving the older male off of him. He swung his legs off of the mattress, sitting up and stifling his needy body. He shouldn't be there. He needed to be somewhere else, with someone else… but who was it? Who was that man?

The voice that responded to his spurn was just as cold as his refusal had been. "What's up with you lately?"

"What's up?" Roxas laughed mirthlessly, almost maliciously. "Something that shouldn't be." Not for Riku, not for Sora. Not for anyone but _him_. The one with burning red hair and enchanting emerald eyes.

_I… I'm going back to how I was._

A hand snaked around his waist, caressing him seductively. "I offered to help," Riku's suave voice licked his ear, causing a shudder to run the length of his back. Roxas pulled sharply away from the touch.

"Don't. Just… stop it, Riku." He stood, gathering his clothes that had been shed the night before, hastily and sloppily putting them on. He needed to leave, to escape this cage of wrongness. Something urged him to escape, told him he was trapped.

"Where're you going?" There was harshness to his words that Roxas had not heard before. At least outside of his dreams, he hadn't.

Roxas tugged on a shoe without bothering with socks, favoring a quick escape. "Home, dumbass. I should've been back hours ago." The second shoe was on and he wasted no time, shoving through the door to the apartment renter's bedroom.

"I'll call you, Roxas." He didn't pause, didn't even acknowledge the promise, even though his tone had softened. He left the apartment, knowing that he would never set foot in it again, and did so without regret.

---

The final meeting came, not long after his summer vacation began. The dreams had been bombarding him every night since the first. But they were different from his previous ones. He was actually himself, or his former self, rather than Sora. There was one thought - or was it something that he had promised? – that haunted him even in waking.

_I'll be waiting._

It was something important, he knew. But he would be waiting for what?

Roxas decided to come clean with Sora, once and for all, about his drifting and the affair with Riku. He figured he owed him, as an ex-lover and best friend. He knew it would be difficult for the both of them, but it was something that Roxas needed to do. Sora wasn't the one. It was the redhead. But what was his _name_?

He walked the distance from his car to Sora's porch and knocked on the door, stomach dropping when he heard footsteps approaching. What he saw once the door opened was another story entirely.

Those eyes, last seen lusting over him and angry at his spurn, stared down at him in a sort of shocked stupor. The previous sexual partners bore deeply into each other's gazes, questions trying to work their way to their lips and failing every time. What was Riku doing at Sora's house? He had never told the silver-haired son of a bitch about Sora, so why was he at the brunet's door?

The frantic and slightly pissed off voice that echoed from somewhere beyond the partially opened front door told Roxas all he needed to know.

"Riku, I told you not to get the door! I don't know if-" The moment those seemingly innocent sapphire blue eyes spotted the blond on the porch, Roxas knew that Sora was in deep shit, and did he _know_ it. The expression Sora couldn't suppress could only be described as unadulterated dread. Unlike his ex-boyfriend, all Roxas portrayed was pure fury. Riku stood, immobilized by the glare from the blond and was only snapped back to reality when Sora stepped out beyond the threshold to stand protectively in front of him.  
He tried to explain the obvious truth, but he knew that it was futile to try to lie to Roxas. "It's not what-"

"Yes, it is," Roxas stated, calm voice sounding so distant and out of place, betraying the fury that burned in his heart. "But it doesn't matter. You're not who I'm waiting for." He addressed both Sora and Riku with the last part.

It was all he could do. Nothing more could have been said to soften the blow. Riku was a two-timing bastard, Sora was as much of a cheater as he was, and Roxas didn't want to have anything more to do with them as long as he lived. His previous life had had enough of them, and he was ready to find the one who he was truly waiting for.

Roxas turned away without another word.

When they felt he was out of earshot, Sora shot a question at the one he had been waiting for, not knowing that Roxas could hear every word. "Do you know him?"

"Never met him," Riku responded coldly.

So that's how it was. Those two were meant to be together. Whenever he was with Riku in his dreams, he had been Sora. It wasn't he who was looking for Riku. In his past life, someone had been looking for Roxas, and he had been running, or searching for something.

He spent the summer alone, and started classes at the university that fall. He felt too guilty leaving his father alone, so he commuted every day to the nearest university that his father had deemed suitable and prestigious enough so that his son might get recognized as a business graduate. It had always been known that he would go into business, no matter how much Roxas detested the idea. But he went along with it, wanting to please his father, and wanting to keep the tuition money flowing.

A year passed and summer came once more, finding Roxas still alone. The dreams hadn't gone away. Rather, they continued. He lived another life when he slept, one that he had no control over, one controlled by a man named DiZ. That dreaded name that haunted him even after he woke and the sweat beading on his brow had long evaporated. DiZ –no- Ansem the Wise. His sworn enemy. His father. The one who he thought he was looking for, in his stupid search for answers. It was a lie. It was a fucking _lie_. His whole existence had been a lie, never should have been…

_That's not true_.

The redhead.

The image of that strong, heartless yet so caring and mischievous man was the only thing keeping him from tearing his own chest open and removing that beating heart that felt so intense and out of place. At night, as he touched himself, it was that man who he pictured. He imagined himself surrounded by darkness laced with flames, with those wiry, thin limbs surrounding him, kisses that burned placed all over his skin. He didn't even know his name.

And he felt so alone.

In order to further please his father after deciding that he was going to take the summer off from classes, he agreed to go into an internship. It was easy for him to get in, his father being a major guru of the advising company. To Roxas, it was just another step towards the monotonous life that already seemed to be planned out perfectly for him, regardless of his true wishes. But what he wanted to do with his life had little to do with where he was headed, and he had no say in the matter.

So he began the internship. He stapled papers and bought coffee for Mr. Highwind. Sometimes he delivered papers, which was always the most interesting thing about the job, and even that was mind-numbing.

But then that fateful moment came, when he least expected it.

He had been running late, quite unusual for him, as he had gotten caught up in the café. Four of the top dudes, including Cid had put in an order for their coffee the previous day, so he was especially weighted down. He was rushing past the cubicles when he was quite suddenly intercepted. Coffee arced through the air, papers fluttered to the floor, and Roxas was on the ground.

Roxas immediately leapt into apologies, not wanting to piss off whoever's papers he had just ruined. The guy simply cursed and scrabbled to save the documents that looked a bit more important than the spilled coffee. Roxas joined him a moment after, still spewing apologies. He paused a moment and glanced up at the man whose job he had just compromised and… froze.

He stopped breathing. He stopped _thinking_. For a moment, he felt as though he had stopped _being_.

It was _him_.

Green fury-laden eyes turned to him, and for a moment, Roxas thought he saw the slightest bit of recognition flash across them. In that moment, Roxas remembered the last important detail of his past life that he had grown to accept over the months of being bombarded by the visions.

_Axel_.

--- The End ---

**End Notes:** Well, there you go. Over a year of work finally coming to an end. Now go re-read from the beginning and it'll all make a fuck of a lot more sense. Now I get to work on some of my own shit! I have a few akuroku oneshots that I'm working on, but I'm thinking I'll keep my longer writings focused on my own characters. Keep an eye on my fictionpress, I might post some stuff there.

Thank you so much to all of you who stuck with this story until the end! Your support really means a lot to me, and it helped push me to actually finish writing it out. You people rule! You all get special Mansex cookies for that.


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